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OUTLAWING 
THE  ALMIGHTY 

OR 

Prohibition  Carried  to  the 

High  Court  of  Nature 

and  Nature's  God 


Sy  /.    Vance  liussen 


Copyrighted     and     Published   by 

JOHN  J.  McCarthy 

241  Worthington  Street 

Springfield,    Mass. 

1923 

PRICE  $1.00 


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HOW  PROHIBITION  BREEDS  LAWLESSNESS 


This  diagram  should  make  clear  prohibition's  connection 
with  the  much  discussed  question  of  lawlessness  in  America 
today. 

Let  the  entire  diagram  represent  all  the  people  in  America 
of  whatever  nationality,  or  degree  of  loyalty  to  our  country. 
The  large  outer  circle  (A)  represents  those  who  merit  the  ap- 
proval of  organized  society  as  being  thoroughly  law-abiding 
and  living  examples  of  a  citizenry  which  shows  the  majesty 
and  safety  of  the  law. 

The  next  circle  or  stratum  (B)  represents  those  who  are 
not  bad  but  have  tendencies  to  break  the  law  for  their  own 
convenience,  profit  or  pleasure,  yet  are  largely  held  in  check 
from  wrong  doing  by  the  influence  of  those  in  circle  A.  The 
stratum   (C)   represents  the  lawless  by  nature  and  those  who 


would  soon  be  in  stratum  (D)  as  criminals  except  for  the  in- 
fluence of  those  in  A  and  B.  The  smaller  inner  stratum  are 
such  as  are  so  bad  they  do  not  yield  to  influences  from  the 
higher  strata. 

Now  note  what  happens  when  any  material  law  evasion  in 
stratum  A  occurs  as  in  prohibition.  The  effect  is  far  beyond 
that  particular  stratum,  for  those  in  stratum  B  who  have  been 
looking  to  A  for  example  and  influence,  naturally  release  the 
brakes  on  their  conduct  with  the  excuse  of  "look  at  so-and-so, 
he's  an  ideal  American  citizen  but  is  violating  the  prohibition 
law  just  as  are  thousands  of  others  in  his  class."  Thus  does 
stratum  B  become  less  law-abiding  than  usual  and  their  law- 
less tendencies  are  emphasized.  So  it  is  with  the  other  strata 
of  our  population,  each  justifying  his  lawless  acts  by  the  con- 
duct of  those  in  the  stratum  above  him.  Therefore,  from  cen- 
ter to  circumference  is  found  the  spirit  of  increased  lawless- 
ness which  we  are  hearing  so  much  about. 

The  misfortune  is  that  instead  of  stopping  with  the  18th 
amendment  and  the  Volstead  act,  this  lawlessness  permeates 
and  contaminates  the  respect  for  other  laws.  This  pronounced 
disrespect  for  law  is  invited  by  those  statutes  which  even  the 
best  of  our  citizenry  feel  are  interfering  with  their  inalienable 
rights,  privileges  and  obligations.  When  our  respected  "law- 
yers, bankers  and  great  manufacturers"  violate  the  country's 
laws,  what  can  be  expected  of  other  strata  in  organized  so- 
ciety? The  moral  is  obvious.  Avoid  too  hasty  and  radical  con- 
stitutional law.  Also,  when  a  legislative  blunder  be  discovered 
let  us  seek  to  correct  it  before  the  majesty  and  security  of  all 
law  are  endangered.  That  is  a  saner  and  more  patriotic  course 
than  to  fanatically  reject  removing  the  error  which  is  causing 
all  the  trouble.     See  Chapter  IX  for  further  discussion. 


206TI4 


FOREWORD 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 


Government  officials  have  pointed  out  that  it  is 
no  longer  a  question  of  whether  one  agrees  with  the 
18th  amendment  and  Volstead  act;  rather  it  is  a 
question  of  observing  and  enforcing  the  law.  The 
same  officials  meekly  proclaim  there  is  absolutely  no 
chance  of  repealing  the  law,  regardless  of  its  being 
good  or  bad. 

As  to  the  law  observance  and  enforcement 
statement  no  loyal  citizen  can  disagree.  But  as 
to  the  abject  surrender,  the  author  of  this 
work  has  too  much  red  blood  of  American  born 
liberty  to  tamely  run  up  the  white  flag.  He 
believes  that  the  American  public  once  it  real- 
izes the  true  facts  will  find  a  legal  and  orderly  way 
of  retracting  its  steps  and  getting  onto  a  sound  and 
constructive  rather  than  fanatical  and  deceptive  high- 
way to  diminishing  liquor  abuses.  After  the  reader 
has  given  this  volume  an  unbiased  and  careful  peru- 
sal, the  author  will  be  pleased  to  know  the  impres- 
sions. If  you  agree  in  the  importance  of  the  Ameri- 
can public  knowing  more  about  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples rather  than  motives  of  prohibition,  your  co- 
operation in  aiding  to  extend  the  information  will  be 
appreciated.  If  you  disagree,  your  criticisms  are 
likewise  welcome,  since  the  issues  involved  are  of  vital 
import  to  America — not  only  in  the  impending  elec- 
tions, but  to  Americanism  for  generations  to  come. 


Anticipating  the  future  by  the  history  of  recent 
years  the  author  wishes  to  advise  members  of  the 
anti-saloon  league,  that  he  is  not  a  hireling  of  "the 
liquor  interests/'  He  has  never  had  any  connection 
in  any  way  whatsoever  therewith,  and  does  not  re- 
ceive one  red  penny  from  these  "moneyed  brewery  or 
distilling  interests/'  He  is  just  an  ordinary  Ameri- 
can citizen  like  millions  of  others,  who  places  princi- 
ple above  frenzied  zeal.  His  reward  has  already  been 
received  in  penning  his  sincere  convictions — in  per- 
forming a  duty  as  he  saw  it. 

September,  1923.  J.  V.  R. 


INDEX 

CHAPTER  I 

Seeking  the  Truth Pages  13-19 

CHAPTER  II 

Nature's  Two  Great  Primary  Laws Pages  20-24  -^ 

CHAPTER  III 

Why  Is  Man  Human  Pages  25-31 

CHAPTER  IV 

Personal  Responsibility  and  Evolution Pages  32-38 

CHAPTER  V 

Rights  and  Obligations  Pages  39-46 

CHAPTER  VI 

-^Morality — Conscience — ^Will   Pages  47-56 

CHAPTER  VII 

-  Self-Control  Versus  Self-Indulgence Pages  57-68 

CHAPTER  VIII 

^Prohibition  and  the  Scripture Pages  69-77 

CHAPTER  IX 

^  The  Legal  Side  of  Prohibition Pages  78-89    . 

CHAPTER  X 

-^  Social,  Moral  and  Economic  Claims Pages  90-99 

CHAPTER  XI 

A/Light  or  Right Pages  100-109 

CHAPTER  XII 
Worthy  Intent  But  Vicious  Method Pages  110-120 


Outlawing  the  Almighty 


PREFACE 


Man  is  impetuous;  Nature  deliberate. 

Man  is  fallible ;  Nature  unerring. 

Man  is  incompatible;  Nature  harmonious. 

Man  is  mighty;  Nature  supreme. 

Man  experiments;  Nature  demonstrates. 

Man  argues;  Nature  decides. 

Man  proposes;  Nature  disposes. 

Man  legislates  total  abstinence  through  prohibi- 
tion; Nature  decrees  — what? 


Chapter  I. 
Seeking  the  Truth 

Truth  crushed  to  the  earth  shall  rise  again. — [Bryant. 

In  the  perplexing  controversy  about  prohibition 
would  it  not  be  some  measure  of  relief  if  we  could  get 
our  foundations  of  pro  or  anti  upon  something  firm 
and  substantial?  The  overwhelming  majority  appear 
agreed  upon  the  sincere  desire  of  bettering  humanity 
and  advancing  civilization.  But  with  prohibition  as 
the  method  of  accomplishing  that  worthy  aim,  endless 
argument  and  widely  variant  opinion  begin.  Surely 
there  must  be  some  sane,  logical  position  that  will 
withstand  any  and  all  logical  assaults  at  any  time  un- 
der any  and  all  circumstances.  It  would  seem  that 
we  could  not  go  far  wrong  in  basing  the  case  upon 
Nature  and  Nature's  God. 

America  has  traveled  far  since  1492.  In  a  mate- 
rial way  it  is  an  inspiring  record  from  the  landing  of 
Columbus  on  through  the  400  odd  years  of  conquer- 
ing, developing  and  organizing  the  vast  areas  of  re- 
sisting wilderness  to  our  present  powerful  and  com- 
plex nation.  Spiritually  and  ethically  it  is  a  long  step 
from  those  narrow  vision  days  of  Salem  witchcraft 
and  Puritanic  persecutions  and  hangings  of  worthy 
God-fearing  Quakers  to  such  broader  days  of  univer- 
sal brotherhood  and  charity  as  characterized  Ameri- 
ca's part  in  the  World  War. 

Great  though  our  achievements,  they  do  not  tran- 
scend the  Almighty.  Our  successes  have  come  through 

13 


working  in  harmony  with  His  laws;  our  failures 
through  transgression  thereof.  Issues,  great  or  small, 
are  ever  amenable  to  these  Divine  laws  and  principles, 
quite  regardless  of  man's  intentions  or  interpreta- 
tions. Prohibition  in  principle  is  either  right  or 
wrong — is  in  harmony  with  Divine  laws  or  is  discord- 
ant. The  sooner  America  learns  for  a  certainty  which, 
the  better  for  all.  Though  well  intentioned,  events 
have  proved  that  the  Puritans  in  their  persecutions 
were  in  discord  with  Divine  laws  of  progress  when 
they  looped  off  the  ears,  burned  holes  with  hot  irons 
through  the  tongues,  banished  and  hung  those  who,  as 
Governor  Endicott  said,  were  condemned  by  their  use 
of  "thee"  and  **thou"  in  conversation.  They  were 
Quakers  and  the  Puritan  law  said  they  must  be  pun- 
ished. Subsequent  events  proved  that  Divine  law 
said  no  such  a  thing.  But  failure  to  learn  the  truth 
earlier  caused  great  suffering,  many  unjust  deaths, 
and  in  the  measure  of  that  ignorance  retarded  the 
progress  of  civilization. 

All  of  this  was  nothing  new  because  man  for  ages 
had  been  creating  laws  out  of  harmony  with  Divine 
laws.  It  has  been  done  since  the  days  of  our  Pilgrim 
fathers,  may  be  done  today  and  possibly  tomorrow.  It 
would  appear  that  our  aim  should  be  to  profit  from 
the  history  of  experiences  which  have  gone  before, 
and  avoid  so  far  as  possible  further  contravention  of 
Divine  law. 

The  day  may  come  when  prohibition  in  America 
will  be  recognized  along  with  the  War  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, the  Civil  War  and  the  Great  War  as  an  epoch- 
making  period  in  this  great  nation,  affectively  dubbed 
the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 
Curiously  enough  these  four  great  events  concern  the 
same  simple  but  all  important  issue  of  liberty  or  bond- 
age.    It  required  the  Revolutionary  War  to  convince 

14 


the  mother  country  that  America  had  reached  its  ma- 
jority and  should  be  freed  from  parental  dominance 
and  dictation.  The  immortal  words  of  Patrick  Henry, 
"I  know  not  what  course  others  may  take,  but  as  for 
me,  give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death,*'  have  continued 
to  thrill  loyal  Americans  to  this  day. 

The  inevitable  fact  that  a  nation  could  not  exist 
half  free  and  half  slave  and  endure  when  divided 
against  itself  is  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  Great  War  saved  the  world  from  becoming 
a  vassal  of  German  Kulture  and  demonstrated  that 
might  does  not  make  right.  Prohibition,  too,  as  the 
succeeding  pages  will  clearly  indicate,  centers  about 
this  same  issue  of  human  liberty — liberty  of  choice, 
individuality,  personal  unfoldment.  In  principle  it 
would  abrogate  the  divinely  endowed  human  rights  of 
moral  accountability  and  personal  responsibility.  In- 
deed, the  very  cornerstone  of  self-development  is  in 
question. 

Again  America  stands  at  the  threshold  of  an- 
other struggle  and  again  the  essential  issue  is  liberty. 
As  in  the  former  cases  the  forces  are  divided  at  the 
line  of  arbitrary  power  on  one  side  and  so-called  in- 
alienable rights  and  privileges  on  the  other.  In  the 
three  first  named  epochs  freedom  from  the  yoke  of 
serfdom  came  only  through  bloody  and  costly  clash  of 
arms  which  taxed  the  nation's  strength,  loyalty  and 
endurance. 

Fortunately,  there  has  been  no  general  clash  of 
arms  in  the  present  epoch  and  it  is  to  be  most  de- 
voutly hoped  and  prayed  such  may  be  avoided.  How- 
ever, the  issue  is  there,  has  germinated,  indeed  has 
here  and  there  reached  fruition  as  attested  by  armed 
clashes,  bloodshed  and  death  in  attempts  at  prohibi- 
tory enforcement. 

15 


On  one  hand  is  the  indisputable  logic  and  truth 
that  a  government  will  endure  on  the  rock  of  law  en- 
forcement or  perish  in  the  quicksands  of  lawlessness. 
On  the  other  is  that  indomitable  and  invincible  spirit 
of  liberty  in  man  for  which  death  itself  has  no  terrors. 
Rumblings  of  discontent  are  heard  daily  and  great 
numbers  feel  that  prohibition  without  a  direct  per- 
sonal vote  is  comparable  to  "taxation  without  repre- 
sentation" which  brought  on  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Argument  that  the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead  en- 
forcement act  were  duly  established  through  the  reg- 
ular processes  of  legislation  answers,  but  does  not  sat- 
isfy great  numbers  who  are  familiar  with  the  meth- 
ods by  which  that  "regular  legislation*'  was  secured. 
Nor  are  these  unsatisfied  souls  all  "foreigners  who 
ought  to  go  back  to  the  country  from  which  they  came 
if  they  do  not  like  our  laws.'*  Neither  are  they  all  con- 
firmed drunkards.  Investigation  will  disclose  an  as- 
tounding number  who  are  true  blue  Americans  and 
loyal  citizens,  many  of  whom  use  intoxicating  liquors 
in  no  form.  These  while  whole-heartedly  behind  tem- 
perance are  unalterably  opposed  to  prohibition.  Their 
reasons  therefor  will  appear  further  along. 

That  the  above  is  true  is  abundantly  attested  by 
the  difficulties  experienced  in  enforcement.  To  the 
thousands  upon  thousands  who  are  violating  the  pro- 
hibitory law  may  be  added  as  many  more,  who  would 
not  lift  a  finger  to  apprehend  a  citizen  who  technically 
violated  the  prohibition  laws.  Little  wonder  is  it  that 
the  authorities  are  amazed  at  the  spirit  of  lawlessness 
in  evidence.  However  unpleasant,  these  are  facts  to 
be  pondered  well  before  it  is  too  late.  Wars  have 
grown  out  of  lesser  beginnings.  Great  oaks  from  lit- 
tle acorns  grow. 

These  general  statements  are  made,  not  to  un- 
duly alarm,  but  as  a  challenge  to  the  clear  thinking  of 

16 


an  intelligent  and  enlightened  nation.  Too  long  have 
we  evaded  independent  reason  and  action  on  the  un- 
derlying principles  of  prohibition.  Too  long  have 
loyal  citizens  and  lav^makers  been  inveigled  to  refrain 
from  speaking  their  honest  thoughts  and  acting  their 
convictions  on  the  prohibition  question,  lest  they  be 
made  to  appear  champions  of  drunkenness  and  evil. 
This  is  a  condition  in  which  no  free  and  self-govern- 
ing nation  should  find  itself.  The  degree  to  which  it  is 
tolerated  is  the  measure  of  the  troubles  ahead. 

Viewed  from  another  angle  the  motive  behind 
prohibition  is  so  worthy  and  the  intent  to  eliminate 
crime,  disease  and  human  misery  so  obvious,  that 
there  is  danger  of  overlooking  the  Divine  law  and 
fundamental  principles  involved.  No  normal  minded 
man  will  seriously  attempt  to  deny  the  curse  and  evil 
in  the  misuse  of  intoxicating  liquors.  The  experiences 
and  the  history  of  the  world  are  so  crowded  with  the 
human  wreckage  in  the  wake  of  unbridled  liquor 
habits  that  a  long  suffering  public  cries :  *'Chain  this 
demon,  this  fiend  that  is  destroying  our  homes  and 
enslaving  mankind."  It  is  a  high  compliment  to  an 
enlightened  civilization  to  be  inspired  by  this  en- 
nobling motive  or  intent. 

But  it  is  the  very  intensity  of  this  worthy  intent 
that  endangers  a  clear  vision  of  the  natural  principles 
concerned.  It  was  this  that  led  the  Puritans  astray  in 
their  persecutions.  Motive,  however  good,  does  not  al- 
ter in  the  slightest  degree  the  working  of  natural  or 
Divine  laws.  Poison  taken  into  the  human  system  will 
kill  just  as  surely  whether  administered  by  a  friend 
through  error  or  by  a  criminal  with  malice  afore- 
thought. So  far  as  the  laws  governing  that  poison 
and  the  results  are  concerned.  Nature  is  and  ever  must 
be  consistent.  She  plays  no  favorites  and  doesn't 
weigh   motives.     The    motive  which    prompts  one   to 

17 


jump  to  the  rescue  of  a  person  drowning  is  worthy 
but  the  water  will  snuff  out  his  life  just  as  quickly,  if 
he  doesn't  keep  his  head  above  it,  as  though  he  inten- 
tionally jumped  in  as  a  suicide.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
enlarge  upon  these  examples  familiar  to  and  accepted 
by  everyday  experiences. 

The  essential  point  as  related  to  prohibition  is 
that  the  motive  back  of  it  does  not,  nor  can  it  ever, 
change  the  inherent  principles  involved;  otherwise. 
Nature  would  be  incongruous,  self-contradicting.  Too 
many  have  failed  to  differentiate  between  motives  and 
principles.  Some  have  been  so  occupied  in  enjoying 
the  satisfaction  in  the  worthy  motive  behind  prohibi- 
tion that  they  have  failed  to  analyze  the  principles. 

Natural  principles  or  laws  are  as  immutable  as 
they  are  eternal.  Motive  is  changeable.  Man  can 
modify  motive  but  he  cannot  alter  Nature's  laws  or 
principles  such  as  the  law  of  gravitation.  Prohibition 
involves  a  principle  as  well  as  a  motive.  Mankind 
spent  needless  energy  seeking  perpetual  motion.  The 
motive  was  excellent  as  it  meant  increasd  service  to 
man.  But  perpetual  motion  involves  a  fundamental 
principle  which  man  cannot  control.  This  principle 
known  as  Nature's  law  of  compensation  frowns  upon 
man's  desire  to  get  something  for  nothing,  even 
though  his  motive  be  worthy.  If  it  be  shown  that  pro- 
hibition involves  a  Divine  principle  upon  which  Con- 
structive Nature  frowns,  may  we,  not  unlike  the 
would-be  inventors  of  perpetual  motion  be  wasting  a 
lot  of  energy  that  might  be  better  directed  ? 

Does  it  not  behoove  American  intelligence  to 
more  closely  scrutinize  the  principles  in  this  stupen- 
dous movement?  If  sound  and  in  accordance  with 
natural  constructive  laws,  more  light  can  do  no  harm ; 
in  fact,  is  more  likely  to  do  infinite  good.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  principles    are  unsound  and    ultimately 

18 


destructive,  the  sooner  we  realize  it  the  better,  so  we 
may  the  sooner  harmonize  our  worthy  motives  v/ith 
the  forces  which  will  bring  the  much-to-be-desired  re- 
form. It  would  appear  there  is  everything  to  gain 
and  nothing  to  lose  by  turning  on  the  most  searching 
rays  of  light.  In  our  search  for  light  and  truth  let  us 
avoid,  so  far  as  may  be,  bias,  preconceived  notions, 
dogmatism  and  narrowness  of  vision.  It  is  easier  to 
be  prejudiced  than  to  acquire  knowledge  and  rise 
above  it. 

The  discussion  of  prohibition  has  been  charac- 
terized to  an  unusual  degree  by  acrimony,  asperity 
and  animosity.  Indeed,  it  has  approached  the  slan- 
derous and  defamatory.  Intemperate  language  and 
undependable  figures  have  been  hurled  back  and  forth 
which  have  further  obscured  the  truth  instead  of  add- 
ing new  light.  The  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  avoid 
those  extremes  and  to  give  readers  a  dispassionate  in- 
sight into  the  far-reaching  principles  which  prohibi- 
tion involves. 

Things  are  essentially  true  or  false  in  themselves 
and  are  not  changed  by  opinions.  One  cannot  believe 
in  error  sincerely  enough  to  make  it  truth.  Even 
martyrs  establish  but  their  own  sincerity,  not  the 
truth  of  their  belief.  The  ability  of  a  people  to  seek 
the  truth  is  the  measure  of  their  civilization  and 
progress. 

There  are  times  when  silence  may  be  sinful  and  un- 
patriotic, when  the  omission  of  what  one's  conscience 
feels  a  duty  is  as  unpardonable  as  an  error  of  com- 
mission. When  the  final  chapter  of  this  work  is  com- 
pleted, the  author  will  feel  he  did  his  duty  as  he  saw 
it.  Without  further  delay,  then,  let  us  start  from  the 
beginning  with  Nature  and  follow  closely  her  funda- 
mental laws  and  principles  in  whatsoever  direction 
they  may  lead. 

19 


Chapter  II. 
Nature's  Two  Great  Primary  Laws 

All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 

Whose  body  Nature  is  and  God  the  soul. — [Pope. 

To  whichever  kingdom  of  Nature  we  turn,  be  it 
mineral,  vegetable,  animal  or  man,  we  find  two  pow- 
erful processes  or  forces  in  evidence.  One  of  these  is 
known  to  some  scientists  as  the  Law  of  Integration, 
by  others  as  the  Law  of  Growth  and  by  still  others  as 
the  Law  of  Evolution.  To  the  writer  the  term.  Na- 
ture's Constructive  Principle,  is  most  descriptive. 
Whatever  we  term  it,  the  results  are  before  our  eyes 
every  day  in  the  year.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom  this 
subtle  force  integrates  matter  into  cells,  cells  into  ag- 
gregates and  aggregates  into  bodies  which  we  recog- 
nize as  trees,  plants  and  vines.  In  this  mysterious  con- 
structive process  of  elaborating  food,  air,  water  and 
light,  we  see  the  life,  the  development  and  the  growth 
of  the  myriad  forms  of  vegetation. 

Likewise  in  the  animal  kingdom  we  see  this  same 
Constructive  Principle  starting  with  a  single  nucle- 
ated cell,  expanding,  multiplying  and  combining  with 
others  to  form  definite  organs;  finally  these  organs 
grouped  into  individual  living  organic  entities.  Then 
in  turn  under  Nature's  Constructive  Principle  the  ani- 
mal life  germ  develops  into  the  infant  animal  and 
thence  on  to  full  maturity.  Even  the  lower  mineral 
kingdom  shows  us  the  Constructive  Principle  by  inte- 
grating and  crystallizing  of  stone,  of  binding  together 
in  a  solid  mass,  particles  of  rock,  iron,  gold,  dia- 
mond, etc. 

20 


In  the  kingdom  of  man  we  note  a  still  higher 
manifestation  of  the  Constructive  Principle.  Here 
occurs  the  constructive  unf oldment  of  the  human  soul, 
of  human  intelligence,  of  moral  sentim.ent,  of  self 
conscientiousness,  of  aesthetic  tastes  and  all  those 
psychical  attributes  which  exalt  man  above  the  king- 
doms below  him.  The  writer  wishes  there  might  be  a 
satisfactory  way  to  pass  over  this  somewhat  technical 
and  dry  scientific  data  but  it  is  necessary  to  grasp 
these  fundamental  factors  as  old  as  is  the  world  itself, 
if  we  are  to  get  the  light  for  which  we  set  out.  The 
application  to  the  problem  under  discussion  is  very 
vital  and  will  become  more  obvious  as  we  progress. 

There  is,  then,  some  great  primary  law  or  prin- 
ciple of  Nature  which  integrates  inorganic  matter, 
such  as  minerals,  organizes  vegetable  and  animal  mat- 
ter into  living  bodies,  and  as  a  crowning  masterpiece 
makes  possible  the  development  and  growth  of  not 
only  the  physical  body  but  also  those  spiritual,  mental 
and  moral  attributes  distinctive  to  mankind.  Let  us 
call  this  fundamental  force  Nature's  Constructive 
Principle. 

Inexorably  opposed  to  this  is  another  law,  prin- 
ciple or  force  which  disintegrates  or  tears  down  mat- 
ter in  all  four  kingdoms  of  Nature.  Science  is  pretty 
well  agreed  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  annihilation 
of  matter  but  rather  there  is  a  change  of  form.  An 
example  is  the  burning  of  coal  or  wood.  Heat,  gases 
and  ashes  attend  the  combustion  and  those  who  should 
know  point  out  that  this  typifies  the  indestructibility 
or  conservation  of  matter  and  energy.  There  is  no 
ground  for  quarrel  here.  But  this  second  law  or  prin- 
ciple of  Nature  destroys  not  the  matter  itself  but  the 
specialized  or  individualized  forms  into  which  it  was 
constructed  by  Nature.  It  is  the  fore-ordained  oppo- 
nent of  individualities  since  its  manifestations  are  to 

21 


disintegrate  or  break  dov/n  that  which  has  previously 
been  built  up.  From  the  results  ensuing,  the  most 
natural  term  by  which  to  designate  it  is  the  Destruc- 
tive Principle  of  Nature. 

A  huge  boulder  is  exposed  to  the  elements  of 
frost,  heat,  wind  and  rain ;  it  eventually  crumbles,  los- 
ing its  individuality  as  a  boulder  and  the  matter  going 
back  into  the  forms  or  combinations  of  matter  from 
which  it  came.  The  mighty  oak  succumbs  to  the  wood- 
man's ax  and  is  burned,  made  into  furniture  or  used 
for  other  purposes.  Its  identity  or  individuality  has 
been  destroyed.  That  monarch  of  beasts,  the  lion,  is 
mortally  wounded  by  a  hunter.  So  far  as  his  living 
physical  identity  is  concerned,  the  Constructive  Prin- 
ciple of  Nature  is  arrested  in  its  function  and  the  De- 
structive Principle  gains  the  ascendancy  and  finally 
results  in  death.  Thus  we  have  these  two  opposing 
forces  or  laws — one  seeking  to  build  up  individuali- 
ties, the  other  to  break  them  down. 

But  what  of  these  great  processes  in  the  kingdom 
of  man?  They  apply  with  equal  force  so  far  as  the 
physical  body  is  concerned.  In  addition,  there  are 
those  mental,  spiritual  and  moral  endowments  to  be 
built  up  or  broken  down  by  these  relentless  laws  of 
construction  or  destruction.  Make  no  mistake  about 
this,  for  besides  a  physical  individuality  mortal  man 
has  individuality  of  mind,  of  spirit  and  of  morals. 
Each  and  all  of  these  are  amenable  to  the  same  iden- 
tical processes  of  evolution  or  devolution,  construc- 
tion or  destruction.  The  growth  and  unfoldment  of  a 
noble  and  useful  life  such  as  Lincoln  or  an  Edison 
typifies  the  Constructive  principle.  The  thousands  of 
disconsolate,  broken-spirited  individuals,  the  crowded 
insane  hospitals  and  the  too  large  population  in  our 
penal  institutions  attest  the  Destructive  Principle  at 
work  in  matters  spiritual,  mental  and  moral  re- 
spectively. 

22 


Right  here  note  a  still  further  sharp  line  of  cleav- 
age distinguishing  man  from  the  kingdoms  below  him 
in  the  evolutionary  scale.  In  the  latter  these  Principles 
of  Construction  and  Destruction  appear  to  be  beyond 
the  control  of  the  individuality.  That  is,  boulders, 
trees,  animals  integrate  or  grow,  disintegrate  or  per- 
ish, so  far  as  known  without,  or  in  spite  of,  conscious 
effort  on  their  part.  In  other  words,  both  principles 
appear  automatic  or  involuntary  so  far  as  the  individ- 
ual entities  are  concerned.  But  with  the  realm  of 
m.an  comes  a  profound  change.  With  the  transcend- 
ing soul  attributes  comes  a  personal  responsibility. 
To  man's  shoulders  is  shifted  the  burden  of  invoking 
either  the  Destructive  or  Constructive  processes.  By 
endowing  him  with  an  intelligent  soul  the  Great  In- 
telligence, God  or  Nature  appears  content  to  let  him 
work  out  his  own  salvation. 

Each  individual  may  be  aided  or  retarded  in  some 
measure  by  environment  and  by  heredity.  Yet  re- 
gardless of  environment  and  heredity  the  progress 
and  development  of  each  individual  depends  in  the 
final  analysis  upon  his  own  effort.  He  alone  can  say 
whether  the  Destructive  or  Constructive  Principle 
shall  be  in  the  ascendancy  so  far  as  his  personal  self 
is  concerned.  To  the  extent  that  ancestors,  friends  or 
organized  society  can  aid  him  in  executing  the  Con- 
structive Law,  to  that  extent  do  they  assist  him. 

Conversely,  the  extent  that  they  prevent  him 
from  executing  that  law  is  the  measure  of  his  loss. 
Helpful  influence  and  counsel  will  leave  him  a  free  and 
independent  choice  and  will  for  self  development  and 
as  he  chooses  must  his  progress  be  forward  or  back- 
ward— Constructive  or  Destructive.  But  the  moment 
he  is  forced  against  his  will  one  way  or  another,  that 
moment  he  loses  not  only  the  initiative  of  will  but  also 
his  free  and  independent  choice,  and  is  robbed  of  the 

23 


personal  responsibility  with  which  Nature  endowed 
the  kingdom  of  man  as  a  natural  birthright.  Consist- 
ent choosing  of  the  Constructive  means  continued 
growth,  the  rewards  of  Nature,  and  the  approval  of 
organized  society.  Consistent  choosing  of  the  Destruc- 
tive means  continued  decay.  Nature's  retributive  jus- 
tice, and  the  disapproval  of  organized  society. 

At  this  point  arises  a  vital  question  to  both  the 
individual  and  to  society.  It  is  apparent  that  society 
must  protect  itself  and  to  that  end  mark  off  certain 
lines  beyond  which  if  any  individual  goes  in  his  De- 
structive downward  path,  he  must  expect  a  penalty 
which  society  names  for  its  protection.  But  the  vital 
issue  is  whether  society  should  rob  him  of  a  free  and 
independent  choice  and  exercise  of  will  power  in  ad- 
vance. Should  society  by  force,  if  necessary,  prevent 
him  having  any  choice  for  fear  he  might  choose 
wrongly?  If  he  has  no  choice,  whence  his  responsi- 
bility and  opportunity  for  self  development?  With 
out  opportunity  for  individual  self  development, 
whence  the  development  of  society  itself,  since  it  is 
but  an  aggregate  of  individuals?  Is  this  the  Con- 
structive or  the  Destructive  Principle  in  action  for 
both  individual  and  ultimately  society? 

Suppose  the  individual  is  guaranteed  a  free  and 
independent  choice  and  opportunity  to  exercise  will 
power  but  society  is  guaranteed  the  right  and  duty  of 
imposing  penalties  when  wrong  choices  are  made, 
would  this  be  Constructive  or  Destructive?  Here  are 
pertinent  questions  to  prohibition  by  means  of  which 
society  hopes  to  prevent  every  individual  in  America 
from  having  a  free  and  independent  choice  and  the 
exercise  of  will  power  as  to  his  beverage.  For  both 
the  individual  and  society  would  you  say  prohibition 
is  in  accordance  with  the  Constructive  law  or  the  De- 
structive law  of  Nature  in  its  final  analysis? 

24 


Chapter  III. 
Why  Is  Man  Human? 

The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man. —  [Pope. 

Too  frequently  man  appears  more  animal  than 
human.  This,  however,  is  his  own  responsibility  and 
no  default  of  his  Divine  brithright.  God  or  Nature 
most  generously  endows  every  normal  human  being 
with  faculties,  capacities  and  powers  that  far  tran- 
scend anything  in  the  evolutionary  scale  below  him. 
He  has  what  is  possessed  by  all  the  other  kingdoms  of 
Nature  and  in  addition  something  exclusively  his  own. 
It  is  this  exclusiveness  and  distinctness  that  Nature 
has  decreed  which  makes  him  man.  Just  what  is  this 
something  in  addition?  Note  well  the  answer  for 
therein  lies  a  profound  fact  of  Nature  which  no  hu- 
man power,  individual  or  collective,  can  vanquish.  It 
has  a  direct  connection  with  the  principles  back  of 
prohibition. 

The  four  fundamental  distinguishing  marks  are: 

1.  Self-consciousness  as  against  consciousness. 

2.  Reason  as  against  intelligence. 

3.  Independent  choice  as  against  enforced  or  au- 
tomatic selection. 

4.  Independent,  self-conscious  and  rational  will 
or  volition. 

These  are  the  great  inherent  cornerstones  upon 
which  human  character  is  built.    They  are  all  lacking 

25 


in  the  animal  kingdom,  although  in  the  highest  devel- 
opment such  as  with  some  horses  and  dogs  there  are 
flashes  foreshadowing  what  the  kingdom  of  man  is  to 
bring.  In  animals,  consciousness  and  intelligence  may 
be  highly  developed  but  they  are  not  self-conscious- 
ness nor  reason.  Self-consciousness  enables  us  to 
know  and  understand  ourselves  and  act  knowingly 
and  intentionally.  By  it  we  become  aware  of  our  re- 
lations and  responsibilities  to  others.  Simple  con- 
sciousness, on  the  other  hand,  records  demands  from 
without  the  entity  or  intelligence  as  well  as  the  de- 
mands from  within  like  appetites,  impulses,  affections, 
emotions  and  instincts.  Only  man  can  reason  deduc- 
tively and  inductively.  He  reasons  about  his  passions, 
desires,  what  he  is  and  what  he  hopes  to  be  in  both 
this  world  and  the  next.  To  offset  this  the  animal  in- 
telligence is  largely  a  reflex  of  physical  miotives  and 
demands. 

So  is  it  with  independent  choice.  The  animal  vir- 
tually has  no  independence  and  his  choice,  such  as  he 
has,  becomes  largely  a  reflex  of  his  physical  desires, 
affections,  appetites  and  instincts.  It  lacks  the  abil- 
ity to  reason  out  a  selection  to  override  appetites  and 
desires. 

But  in  man's  estate  this  independent  choice  rises 
to  far-reaching  results.  Society  and  its  laws  hereto- 
fore have  held  us  accountable  as  having  a  free  and  in- 
dependent choice  as  between  good  and  evil.  No  plea 
of  being  "creatures  of  circumstances'*  is  accepted  in 
the  final  analysis.  Our  fellow  men  assume  we  enjoy 
the  power  of  independent  choice.  In  fact,  we  encour- 
age them  in  that  assumption,  and  our  intelligence 
would  be  insulted  for  others  to  doubt  our  independ- 
ence. This  rational  and  independent  choice  is  the  es- 
sential factor  in  making  man  individually  responsible 
for  his  acts.    If  one  has  an  opportunity  to  steal  a  sum 

26 


of  money,  he  and  he  alone  is  assumed  to  have  the 
choice  of  taking  it  or  leaving  it  alone. 

The  fourth  primary  difference  between  animal 
and  man  is  rational  will  or  volition.  Here  again  that 
power  in  the  animal  kingdom  h  larr^^el;/  automatic  in 
reflex  action  to  the  impulses,  desires,  instincts  and  ap- 
petites. But  man  has  the  pov/er  to  act  independently, 
unaided  or  uninfluenced  by  others  and  this  knowingly, 
rationally  and  with  the  ability  to  anticipate  the  natu- 
ral and  logical  results. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  outline  of  these  four  higher, 
moral,  ethical,  psychical  or  soul  attributes  with 
which  man  alone  is  endowed.  Upon  his  free  and  inde- 
pendent control  and  exercise  of  these  attributes  must 
he  depend  for  individual  responsibility,  self  develop- 
ment and  happiness  here  and  hereafter. 

Hence  it  must  follow  as  day  the  night  that 
whatever  deprives  him  of  these  natural  fundamental 
soul  attributes  robs  him  of  the  power  to  co-operate 
with  Nature's  Constructive  Principle  and  even  endan- 
ger his  opportunity  to  achieve  immortality.  For  em- 
phasis let  this  be  restated :  Whatsoever,  or  whosoever 
shall  divest  man  of  any  one  or  more  of  these  four  soul 
attributes  (self -consciousness,  reason,  independent 
choice  and  independent  rational  will  or  volition) 
upon  which  he  depends  for  his  personal  responsibility, 
attacks  the  very  vitals  of  his  being.  It  cannot  be  oth- 
erwise for  these  are  the  working  tools  which  God  or 
Nature  gave  him  with  which  to  build  a  Temple  of 
Character.  If  he  does  not  use  them  properly  his  is 
the  responsibility.  But  whoever  robs  him  of  any  por- 
tion of  this  birthright  is  as  much  or  more  a  menace  to 
society  and  an  enemy  of  mankind  as  is  one  who  robs 
a  bank  or  an  orphan.  Without  these  tools  he  is  forced 
into  Nature's  Destructive  Principle  or  devolution 
which  would  carry  him  back  toward  the  animal  king- 

27 


dom  where  the  human  soul  attributes  are  not  in 
evidence. 

With  these  irrefutable  truths  of  Nature  in  mind 
let  those  who  advocate  prohibition  square  themselves 
first  with  their  own  self-consciousness  and  then  with 
the  great  body  of  American  people.  Prohibition  aims 
to  abrogate  the  soul  endowed  attributes  of  free  and 
independent  choice  and  power  of  will  regarding  good 
and  evil.  That  the  rank  and  file  of  prohibitionists 
throughout  the  land  have  been  unaware  of  these  sig- 
nificant facts  is  unquestioned.  Their  intense  and  most 
commendable  motive  to  help  free  mankind  of  alco- 
holic abuses  has  led  them  to  overlook  the  fact  which 
their  own  knowledge  and  experience  proves,  namely, 
that  the  reform  of  an  individual  finally  gets  down  to 
that  individual  himself.  To  force  him  or  rob  him  by 
law  of  a  personal  choice  and  exercise  of  will  between 
good  and  evil  gets  nowhere  except  backward  and  is 
destructive. 

But  v/ise  council,  education,  logical  reasoning  and 
helpful  influences  may  cause  him  personally  to  make 
a  choice  for  good  and  to  develop  the  will  to  execute. 
That  gets  somewhere,  is  constructive  and  in  perfect 
accord  with  natural  laws  of  individual  progress  and 
the  evolution  of  society.  Note  that  these  soul  at- 
tributes of  choice  and  will  are  so  primary  in  every  in- 
dividual that  Nature  has  implanted  the  instinct  to 
guard  them  jealously.  It  is  so-called  second  nature 
for  every  normal  individual  to  resist  force.  This  is 
common  knowledge  and  is  illustrated  by  the  homely 
old  adage:  "You  can  lead  a  horse  to  water  but  you 
can't  make  him  drink.'* 

Then,  many  advocates  of  prohibition  have  been 
confused  by  the  different  shades  of  meaning  attached 
thereto.  Doubtlessly,  the  majority  are  thinking  more 
of  the  abuse  of  liquor  than  the  use.    Fire  is  a  wicked 

28 


master  but  as  yet  no  one  has  advocated  the  prohibi- 
tion of  its  use  or  of  carrying  matches.  However, 
proper  restrictions  are  provided  by  society  against 
abuse.  Water  is  another  harsh  master  but  a  valuable 
servant  so  long  as  under  control.  Just  because  water 
out  of  control  is  an  enemy  to  man,  is  no  valid  reason 
that  we  should  legislate  one  criminal  because  he  prop- 
erly uses  it  or  transports  it.  Murder  is  a  most  serious 
crime  but  we  do  not  prohibit  the  manufacture,  sale, 
use  or  transportation  of  knives,  clubs,  firearms  or 
poison  with  which  murder  may  be  committed. 

Hence  pray  tell  why  we  prohibit  the  manufac- 
ture, sale  or  transportation  of  liquor.  The  crime  of 
murder  comes  through  the  misuse  of  that  which  may 
be  used  without  ill  effect.  May  not  the  same  be  ap- 
plied to  drunkenness?  Then,  finally,  please  explain 
why  in  the  case  of  murder  every  man,  woman  and 
child  is  given  a  free  and  independent  choice  to  com- 
mit that  crime,  while  with  drunkenness  one  is  denied 
that  choice.  Can  it  be  that  society  believes  it  a 
greater  crime  to  take  a  glass  of  liquor  as  a  beverage 
than  to  commit  murder?  If  not,  then  why  give  man 
his  birthright  of  free  and  independent  choice  and 
exercise  of  will  power  in  one  instance  and  rob  him  of 
it  in  the  other?  We  properly  have  laws  against  the 
misuse  (not  use)  of  those  things  which  cause  murder, 
and  one  who  transgresses  them  must  suffer  punish- 
ment. Then  why  not  laws  against  the  misuse  (and 
not  use)  of  liquor  which  may  cause  crime,  punishing 
those  who  transgress  the  same? 

To  argue  that  prohibition  gives  man  independent 
choice  to  obey  or  violate  its  laws  is  evading  the  ques- 
tion. The  choice  upon  which  man's  advancement  or 
retrogression  ever  depends  is  the  individual  choice 
between  the  primary  forces  of  good  and  evil — of  con- 
struction or  destruction.    This  is  exactly  what  prohi- 

29 


bitionists  would  prevent  by  making  the  choice  for 
him  in  advance.  With  the  prohibitionist's  favorite 
example  of  murder,  the  primary  choice  of  good  and 
evil  and  proper  use  of  agents  which  may  cause  murder 
are  left  to  the  individual.  Why  trust  the  individual 
to  choose  between  life  and  death  to  others  but  deny 
his  responsibility  of  a  glass  of  liquor  within  his  reach? 
But  says  someone,  "murder  is  so  unquestionably 
accepted  as  wrong  by  mankind  that  all  can  be  trusted 
with  free  and  independent  choice  and  will  power.  It 
is  not  true  of  drunkenness."  Such  an  argument  proves 
the  importance  of  this  entire  chapter,  namely,  that 
progress  is  with  and  through  these  four  soul  attrib- 
utes of  man,  be  it  individual  or  collective.  Through 
their  proper  exercise  and  functioning  is  the 
way  of  constructive  progress.  Through  their 
enforced  annulment  or  atrophy  is  destructive 
retrogression.  Through  years  of  experience,  suffer- 
ing and  death,  carrying  the  burden  of  free  choice  and 
personal  responsibility,  mankind  has  come  to  a  real- 
ization that  murder  is  an  unpardonable  crime. 

But  note  that  this  achievement  was  not  gained  by 
destroying  knives,  firearms,  poison,  clubs  or  other 
agencies  with  which  murder  could  be  committed.  In- 
stead it  was  gained  by  giving  man  access  to  these  but 
holding  him  personally  responsible  for  any  abuse  or 
misuse  thereof.  Murder  is  still  committed,  but  the 
blame  attaches  to  man's  misuse  of  the  things  within 
his  reach.  That  is,  the  man  is  held  accountable  and 
not  the  gun,  poison  or  knife  that  was  the  agent  used 
to  commit  murder.  Then  why  should  not  the  man 
who  becomes  a  drunkard  likewise  be  held  accountable 
instead  of  the  agent — liquor  ? 

This  explanation  should  clear  the  minds  of  some 
who  have  been  arguing :  "We  prohibit  murder,  so  why 
not  prohibit  liquor?"     They  are  two  different  things. 

30 


There  is  a  confusion  of  cause  and  effect.  Particular- 
ly note  that  murder  means  wrong  action.  It  means 
that  man  has  made  some  choice  and  failed  in  will 
power,  which  proved  to  be  destructive  to  life.  But 
liquor  doesn't  mean  anything  of  the  kind.  Millions  of 
gallons  could  be  manufactured  and  stored  without  do- 
ing harm  to  an  individual  or  to  society.  Before  the 
harm  comes,  man  must  misuse  it  or  abuse  it.  In  other 
words,  liquor  has  the  possibilities  of  great  crime  the 
same  as  clubs,  guns,  knives,  fire  and  water,  but  it  is 
not  itself  the  crime.  Yet  prohibitionists  appear 
to  be  holding  liquor  accountable  instead  of  the  man. 

Those  who  wish  to  use  the  murder  argument  in 
defense  of  prohibition  should  compare  the  crime  of 
murder  with  the  crime  of  drunkenness — if  society 
will  admiit  getting  drunk  is  a  crime.  That  is  as  far 
as  they  can  possibly  go  in  logical  argument.  But  to 
do  this  wouldn't  be  prohibition.  Neither  the  18th 
amendment  nor  the  Volstead  Act  were  necessary  to 
make  drunkenness  or  the  abuse  of  liquor  a  crime. 
Ordinary  laws  to  which  society  would  subscribe,  hold- 
ing the  individual  responsible  for  his  acts  would  ac- 
complish it.  That  is  the  method  by  which  civilization 
has  advanced  to  its  present  status. 

Thus  is  seen  how  radically  prohibition  departs 
from  the  natural  constructive  way  of  progress.  In- 
stead of  working  through  the  individual,  endowed 
with  the  human  soul  attributes,  prohibition  attacks 
the  inanimate  agent,  liquor,  holding  it  accountable 
when  it  hasn't  even  the  instincts  of  the  animal  or  the 
vegetable  kingdoms,  much  less  the  ability  to  think, 
reason  and  choose,  as  has  a  human  being.  Is  prohi- 
bition a  sane,  logical  course  of  progress  for  the  human 
race?  Is  it  constructive?  Will  it  lead  to  the  desired 
goal?  Or  is  it  simply  emulating  the  searchers  for 
perpetual  motion? 

31 


Chapter  IV. 
Personal  Responsibility  and  Evolution 

A  sense  of  duty  pursues  us  ever. — [Daniel  Webster. 

Those  of  us  who  take  the  Holy  Bible  seriously 
realize  that  from  the  beginning,  man  has  been 
charged  with  the  burden  of  personal  responsibility. 
All  are  familiar  with  the  story  recorded  in  Genesis. 
Man  was  created  a  sinless  and  perfect  being  in  the 
image  of  his  Maker.  And  the  Lord  God  "breathed  in- 
to his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life;  and  man  became  a 
living  soul."  In  the  Garden  of  Eden  he  was  given  do- 
minion "over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of 
the  air  and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon 
the  earth."  He  was  tempted  to  eat  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  despite  his  perfection 
and  purity  he  "fell"  into  sin. 

His  Creator  saw  that  in  sinning,  man  had  vio- 
lated his  personal  responsibility  and  hence  forfeited 
his  right  to  eternal  life.  Thus  it  became  necessary  to 
counteract  this  unfortunate  violation  of  the  original 
law  of  life  or  man  would  be  "lost"  forever  and  the 
creation  end  in  failure.  The  whole  scheme  or  plan 
of  Christian  salvation  or  redemption  through  the 
blood  of  Christ  as  accepted  today  is  grounded  on  the 
belief  that  Jesus  came  to  earth  to  minister,  to  suffer 
and  to  die  an  ignominious  death  as  a  voluntary  per- 
sonal sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world  that  sinful 
man  might  be  restored  to  his  lost  estate  and  still 
progress  to  eternal  life.  All  this  because  man  failed 
in  his  responsibility. 

32 


The  point  to  grasp  is  the  fact  that  ever  since  the 
days  of  Adam,  man  has  been  carrying  the  burden  of 
personal  responsibility.  Without  this  individual  re- 
sponsibility the  entire  doctrine  of  Christianity  and 
salvation  as  understood  and  unreservedly  accepted  to- 
day would  be  without  foundation.  It  was  because  of 
this  personal  responsibility  that  it  became  possible 
for  Adam  to  commit  the  first  "sin."  The  Creator  did 
not  place  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  be- 
yond Adam's  reach.  Instead,  Adam's  attention  was 
specifically  called  to  it  and  he  was  given  the  power  of 
free  and  independent  choice. 

Yet  prohibition  aims  to  remove  liquor  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  man,  giving  him  no  choice  and  re- 
voking the  item  of  personal  responsibility  in  its  use. 
There  can  positively  be  no  responsibility  without 
choice.  Would  prohibition  advocates  have  us  believe 
that  the  Creator  made  a  serious  blunder  in  not  re- 
moving this  tree  root  and  branch  which  resulted  in 
Adam's  "fall?" 

There  is  further  significance  in  the  records  that 
even  after  Adam's  wrong  choice  and  his  fall  and  the 
coming  of  Christ  to  redeem  mankind,  that  the  Creator 
did  not  change  His  plan  of  allowing  man  independent 
choice  and  personal  responsibility  and  exercise  of  will 
power.  On  the  contrary,  there  was  increased  effort  to 
have  man  realize  his  personal  responsibility.  Indeed, 
the  Scripture  informs  us  that  the  activities  of  Jesus  by 
the  spoken  word,  by  parable,  by  miracle  and  by  ex- 
ample were  almost  wholly  confined  to  teaching  man 
his  Divine  origin  and  his  responsibilities  if  he  would 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  No  time  was  wasted  in 
trying  to  remove  the  temptations  of  life  and  in  revok- 
ing man's  independent  choice. 

Would  prohibitionists  have  us  believe  that  the 
Creator,  after  seeing  Adam  "fall,"  was  again  sadly 

33 


in  error  in  not  causing  Jesus  to  spend  his  time  elimi- 
nating temptations  of  evil  instead  of  continuing  man's 
freedom  of  choice  and  teaching  personal  responsibil- 
ity? The  answer  is  vital,  for  either  the  Creator  was 
wrong  in  His  principle  or  prohibitionists  are.  One 
bases  progress  upon  individual  responsibility  and  in- 
dependent choice  and  will  power,  while  the  other 
would  progress  by  removing  temptation  and  making 
it  impossible  for  man  to  choose  lest  he  choose  wrong- 
ly. That  is,  the  latter  would  shift  the  burden  of  re- 
sponsibility from  the  individual  to  society  as  a  whole, 
holding  that  society  should  create  and  enforce  laws 
v/hich  will  remove  the  temptation  of  drunkenness. 

Apparently,  organized  society  feels  it  can  do  what 
the  Creator  could  not  or  in  His  infinite  wisdom  did 
not — namely,  eliminate  temptations  of  mankind. 
Right  or  wrong,  it  is  an  incontestable  fact  that  God's 
working  plan  from  first  to  last  included  this  law  of 
personal  responsibility.  Moreover,  beneficent  relig- 
ions and  moral  philosophies  of  all  times  and  of  all 
peoples  have  acknowledged  this  primary  principle  of 
responsibility  in  human  development  and  progress.  It 
is  the  essence  of  man's  estate,  for  without  it  man 
would  not  be  man.  It  binds  him  as  much  as  the  law 
of  gravitation  and  cannot  be  dodged,  evaded  or  defied 
without  invoking  the  inevitable  consequences  such  as 
attend  the  violations  of  any  other  natural  laws. 

Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  Nature  or  God  saw  fit 
to  place  this  burden  of  choice  and  responsibility  upon 
man  when  endowing  him  with  the  four  soul  attributes 
explained  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Upon  his  own 
effort  must  depend  his  progress  or  evolution.  It  is  an 
individual  work  not  to  be  delegated.  Without  the  per- 
sonal work  there  can  be  no  personal  reward.  Society 
or  civilization  itself  is  measured  by  the  ability  of  the 
individuals  which  compose  it,  to  assume  that  duty  or 

34 


obligation  of  choice  and  personal  responsibility.  In 
other  words,  organized  society  can  be  no  better,  no 
worse,  than  the  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed. 

Clearly,  the  basis  of  progress  or  evolution  is  the 
individual.  Now  how  can  the  individual  develop, 
grow  and  attain  if  society  puts  him  in  close,  artificial 
confinement  where  he  surrenders  his  personal  respon- 
sibility through  elimination  of  temptation?  Obvious- 
ly, if  temptation  be  removed,  man  does  not  have  to 
choose,  and  if  no  choice  then  no  burden  of  personal 
responsibility. 

If  organized  society  starts  on  this  principle  of 
removing  temptation  so  man  can  be  good  and  virtuous 
without  exercising  choice,  will  power  and  responsibil- 
ity between  good  and  evil,  just  where  will  it  stop? 
Figure  out  the  details  necessary  to  remove  the  temp- 
tation to  murder,  to  lie,  to  steal,  to  commit  arson,  sui- 
cide, social  evil,  and  the  dozens  of  other  sins  to  which 
mortal  man  may  be  tempted.  The  question  is  entirely 
fair  to  prohibitionists,  for  if  they  would  eliminate  the 
temptation  of  drunkenness,  may  we  not  expect  the 
same  procedure  of  elimination  as  a  panacea  for  all 
other  sins  and  evils  to  which  mortal  flesh  appears  to 
be  heir? 

Then  followed  to  its  natural  conclusion  and 
granting  for  argument  sake  that  these  grevious  temp- 
tations can  be  eliminated — what  have  we?  Wouldn't 
we  have  a  most  disgusting  race  of  spineless  molly- 
coddles? Would  we  have  a  strong,  vigorous,  depend- 
able, intelligent,  resourceful,  moral  and  inspiring 
manhood  and  womanhood,  or  a  mere  aggregation  of 
automatons,  little  better,  if  indeed  as  good,  as  the  en- 
tities in  the  animal  kingdom  below  man?  Would  such 
artificiality,  the  surrender  of  free  and  independent 
choice,  personal  responsibility  and  ability  of  will,  be 
constructive  or  destructive  to  mankind? 

35 


Then  again  we  are  reminded  of  the  natural,  in- 
herent, personal  responsibility  of  man  by  the  funda- 
mental principles  in  civil  and  criminal  jurisprudence 
in  our  country  today.  From  the  original  indictment 
on  through  the  evidence,  rulings  of  the  court,  charge 
to  the  jury,  finding  of  verdict  and  final  judgment,  the 
aim  is  to  establish  guilt  or  innocence,  and  if  guilt, 
then  the  degree  of  "personal  responsibility."  The 
verdict,  judgment  and  sentence  pronounced  v^ill  give 
every  man  the  benefit  of  whatever  degree  it  can  be 
shown  that  he  was  not  responsible.  That  is,  organized 
society  accepts  without  question  man's  personal  re- 
sponsibility in  judging  his  proper  relations  with  his 
fellow-men.  Yet  the  same  society  now  embarks  upon 
a  course  of  abrogating  that  responsibility  through 
prohibition;  itself  assuming  the  responsibility  by  re- 
moving the  temptation  or  possibility  of  evil  via  the 
18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act.  To  many  it  still 
remains  strange  inconsistency. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  experience  of  ages  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  does  not  fit  into  Nature's  stu- 
pendous plan  of  development  and  evolution.  If  we 
can  believe  our  eyes  it  was  a  long  struggle  for  Nature 
or  Universal  Intelligence  to  produce  a  product  with 
the  soul  attributes  of  self-consciousness,  independent 
choice,  reason  and  independent  will  or  volition,  to 
whose  shoulders  could  be  shifted  the  burden  of  per- 
sonal responsibility.  It  was  not  attained  in  the  min- 
eral, plant  or  animal  kingdoms.  Even  to  the  time  of 
Adam  it  is  a  fair  question  whether  he  "fell"  into  sin 
or  had  not  yet  evolved  out  of  it. 

Certain  it  is  that  mankind  has  not  yet  evolved  to 
perfection.  Nature  is  never  in  haste.  Yet  who  will 
deny  that  man  has  attained  a  higher  sphere  of  devel- 
opment, mentally,  spiritually  and  morally,  than  he 
occupied  5000    years    ago?     Simple    mention  of   the 

36 


Great  War  and  the  voluntary  sacrifices  of  the  masses, 
which  it  involved,  so  "the  world  might  be  safe  for 
democracy"  should  indicate  how  man  is  evolving  to  a 
higher  status  of  altruism,  responsibility  and  justice. 
Indeed,  there  is  a  glimmer  of  hope  that  mankind  may 
yet  evolve  out  of  war  into  world  peace. 

The  liquor  problem  itself  proves  the  onward 
march  of  evolution.  Whether  admitted  or  not,  the 
fact  is  that  under  the  old  days  of  license  and  local  op- 
tion man  was  gradually  evolving  to  a  keener  sense  of 
his  personal  responsibility.  Abuse  of  liquor  and 
drunkenness  were  more  and  more  becoming  taboo. 
Business  concerns  were  holding  their  employees  more 
closely  to  responsibility,  whereas  many  remember  the 
day  when  it  was  considered  quite  the  thing  for  a  sales- 
man to  go  out,  drink  a  customer  under  the  table  and 
then  get  his  signature  on  the  dotted  line  below.  Nature 
itself  was  taking  care  of  this  (slowly  perhaps)  but 
experience  and  observation  were  proving  to  man  that 
it  did  not  pay  in  the  long  run. 

Public  opinion  and  society  had  reached  that  state 
of  evolution  where  the  average  individual  himself 
sensed  the  error  of  his  way  and  vast  numbers  were 
practicing  self  control,  even  total  abstinence,  and  this 
by  their  own  choice,  effort,  responsibility  and  will — 
all  in  harmony  with  the  Constructive  Principle  of  life 
and  Nature.  Admit  it  or  not,  the  truth  is  that  increas- 
ing numbers  every  year  by  independent  choice  and 
will  were  refusing  to  go  to  their  work  with  liquor  on 
their  breath.  There  was  abundance  of  evidence  that 
man  was  evolving  to  better  things.  That  it  was  pos- 
sible to  put  prohibition  on  the  statute  books  at  all  is 
abundant  evidence  that  evolution  was  in  progress  as 
regards  liquor. 

From  this,  society,  or  an  alleged  majority  there- 
of, jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  the  process  might  be 

37 


completed  in  jig  time  by  legislation,  by  laws  that 
might  transcend  the  Almighty's  laws.  The  somewhat 
American  tendency  of  haste  and  "going  cross-lots"  as- 
serted itself  and  prohibition  became  the  law  of  the 
land,  if  not  an  observable  fact. 

Whether  slow,  consistent  Nature  or  hasty,  vacil- 
lating man  has  the  better  plan  remains  to  be  seen.  In 
any  event,  we  witness  the  departure  of  American  or- 
ganized society  from  Nature's  constructive  scheme  of 
individual  development  of  will  power  and  personal 
responsibility.  If  America  can  demonstrate  the  ad- 
visability of  removing  temptation  from  sinfully-in- 
clined man,  it  may  be  possible  to  logically  argue  that 
the  Creator  was  woefully  negligent  in  not  removing 
that  historic  tree  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  before 
turning  Adam  loose  therein. 


38 


Chapter  V. 
Rights  and  Obligations 

Better,  though  difficult,  the  right  way  to  go, 

Than  ^vrong,  though  easy,  where  the  end  is  woe. — [Bunyan. 

Much  that  is  logical  and  possibly  more  that  is  il- 
logical is  heard  about  personal  liberty  and  individual 
rights.  The  essentials  of  personal  rights  can  be 
separated  readily  from  the  non-essentials  by  comparing 
them  with  obligations.  Let  no  man  make  the  sad  mis- 
take of  believing  that  Nature  or  Universal  Intelligence 
so  generously  endowed  him  with  certain  rights  and 
privileges  without  at  the  same  time  exacting  some  ac- 
companying obligations.  Those  who  rant  about  their 
"rights"  without  thought  of  what  they  owe  others  have 
yet  to  learn  there  are  people  in  this  world  besides  their 
own  dear  selves  who  also  have  "rights." 

But  let  us  analyze  a  little  farther  and  see  if  we 
can  discover  the  helpful  Constructive  Principle  of  Na- 
ture involved,  so  none  may  go  astray  from  the  funda- 
mentals. First,  as  to  the  inalienable  rights  and 
privileges  with  which  every  human  soul  is  endowed.  It 
is  commonly  admitted  there  are  such  even  though  they 
are  not  respected  by  others.  Foremost  in  the  list  are 
right  to  individual  life,  to  individual  liberty  and  to  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  These  rights  belong  to  man,  for 
without  them  existence  to  the  intelligent  soul  of  man 
would  be  meaningless.  They  are  a  part  of  his  very 
being  and  necessary  for  his  individual  development. 
No  man  nor  power  has  a  right  to  interfere  with  these 

39 


individualized  inalienable  rights  and  privileges  so  long 
as  the  individual  in  his  use  thereof  does  not  interfere 
with  another  in  his  enjoyment  of  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  in  his  own  behalf. 

Right  here  is  where  so  many  are  prone  to  go  astray 
from  the  fundamentals.  The  uncontrolled  pursuit  of 
life,  liberty  and  happiness  might  easily  lead  to  our  in- 
terfering with  the  rights  of  others  had  not  Nature  pro- 
vided for  it  by  going  one  step  further.  Certain  obliga- 
tions, duties  and  responsibilities  are  just  as  unescap- 
able  as  our  rights  are  inalienable.  The  decree  of  Nature 
is  that  they  go  hand-in-hand. 

Those  are  the  simple  principles  by  which  we  may 
measure  personal  rights  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
Thus  we  see  the  natural,  logical  reason  why  man  may 
not  lie,  steal,  murder  and  commit  adultery  or  arson 
at  will.  These  are  impossible  v/ithout  interfering  with 
the  inalienable  rights  of  others.  The  defense  of  society 
against  those  who  refuse  to  recognize  these  responsi- 
bilities and  obligations  is  to  enact  laws  calling  for  pun- 
ishment of  the  guilty.  Previous  to  prohibition  there 
were  such  laws  enacted  and  to  a  degree  enforced,  re- 
garding the  misuse  of  liquor  and  drunkenness.  As 
noted  in  the  preceding  chapter  this  plan  or  system  was 
most  perceptibly  evolving  to  a  higher  type  of  personal 
responsibility,  individual  obligation  and  citizenship. 

But  prohibition  departed  radically  from  these 
principles.  The  18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act  ap- 
pear to  have  set  up  laws  to  punish  an  individual  before 
he  has  interfered  with  the  rights  of  others  or  violated 
in  the  slightest  degree  the  obligations  which  Nature 
placed  upon  his  shoulders.  Indeed,  it  is  a  most  perti- 
nent question  if  organized  society  itself  has  not  violated 
the  very  obligations  which  it  vrould  impose  upon  the  in- 
dividual. A^  the  account  with  Nature  now  stands,  the 
burden  of  proof  is  upon  society  to  show  that  it  has  not 

40 


interfered  with  man's  inalienable  rights  of  liberty  and 
pursuit  of  happiness.  Society  should  prove  that  a  man 
cannot  physically  manufacture,  sell  or  transport  any- 
thing beyond  %  of  1%  alcoholic  content  (with  minor 
modifications)  without  interfering  with  the  inalienable 
rights  of  others. 

Just  what  is  the  material  evidence  that  the  mere 
act  of  transporting  a  jug  of  whiskey  from  New  York 
to  Boston  has  interfered  with  the  rights  or  pursuit  of 
happiness  of  others?  Just  how  does  it  violate  one's 
obligations  to  others  if  it  be  sold?  Just  how  does  the 
temperate  drinking  thereof  by  the  purchaser  interfere 
with  the  pursuit  of  happiness  by  his  fellow  men?  Of 
course,  under  prohibition  this  is  all  illegal,  and  loyal 
citizens  are  expected  to  obey  the  laws.  These  questions 
by  no  means  imply  that  the  law  of  the  land  should  not 
be  obeyed.  They  certainly  should  and  let  none  con- 
sider this  chapter  or  the  completed  work  a  brief  in  be- 
half of  law-breakers.  Readers  are  especially  warned 
against  interpreting  it  as  such. 

However,  this  need  not  deter  us  from  seeking  the 
truth,  and  if  we  find  ourselves  out  of  harmony  with 
Nature's  great  fundamental  laws  of  progress,  to  take 
such  action  as  will,  in  due  time,  bring  us  back  into  line. 
Nations  as  well  as  individuals  are  not  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  error.  If  it  be  found  that  prohibition  is  a 
mistake,  the  wise  and  large  thing  for  a  nation,  as  for  an 
individual,  is  to  admit  the  error  and  turn  attention  to 
its  correction.  But  how  are  the  masses  to  learn  more 
of  the  facts  without  a  free  and  frank  discussion  such 
as  this  volume  aims  to  present? 

Hence  let  us  return  to  the  question  of  rights  and 
obligations.  In  the  light  of  Nature's  fundamental 
principles  of  unavoidable  obligations  and  inalienable 
rights  it  will  be  noted  that  they  bind  one  individual  as 
much  as  another.    That  is,  one  might  think  the  duties 

41 


and  obligations  he  must  continually  observe  in  behalf 
of  others  are  unfair.  But  let  him  remember  that  every 
other  individual  is,  or  should  be,  extending  the  same 
consideration  to  him. 

This  brings  out  the  fair  question  if  the  prohibition- 
ist is  not  decidedly  transgressing  Nature's  law.  He 
doubtlessly  is  pursuing  his  inalienable  right  to  happi- 
ness in  his  activities  to  prevent  his  fellow  men  from 
getting  a  drink  of  liquor.  But  does  he  remember  that 
Nature  holds  him  accountable  for  not  interfering  with 
the  rights  of  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  by  others? 
If  others  abuse  liquor  that  is  their  obligation  violated. 
Is  it  not  possible  for  a  pronounced  prohibitionist  to  go 
to  the  same  excesses  in  disregarding  the  rights  of 
others  as  does  the  drunkard  ?  The  moment  a  man  goes 
to  excess  in  anything,  the  rights  of  others  are  in  im- 
minent danger.  So  good  a  cause  as  religion  itself  can 
be  carried  to  extremes  and  to  a  point  where  it  not  only 
interferes  with  the  rights  of  others  but  also  defeats  the 
worthy  motives  involved  since  it  arouses  disgust  and 
justifiable  opposition. 

What  is  to  be  said  of  the  extreme  prohibitionists 
who  spend  their  time  in  administrative  and  legislative 
chambers  "pursuing  happiness"  by  seeking  to  limit  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  others  ?  What  about  the  rights 
of  legislators  and  congressmen  to  vote  as  their  con- 
science dictates  instead  of  being  intimidated  and  vir- 
tually forced  to  vote  as  directed?  That  some  of  them 
are  too  weak  to  assert  their  independence  does  not 
change  the  principle  involved  which  is  that  we  have  the 
inalienable  rights  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  so  long  as  in  securing  them  we  do  not  inter- 
fere with,  or  jeopardize,  the  same  rights  to  any  other 
individual  in  his  own  behalf. 

The  greatest  service  to  society  and  to  mankind  is 
in  the  direction  of  further  unfoldment  of  personal  re- 

42 


sponsibility  and  holding?  the  individual  morally  ac- 
countable, rather  than  in  taking  responsibility  away 
from  him  and  allowing  no  chance  to  develop  because  of 
others  choosing  for  him.  It  would  seem  we  have  quite 
enough  people  in  our  insane  hospitals  and  penal  insti- 
tutions already  for  whom  society  assumes  the  responsi- 
bility and  the  choice,  without  making  an  entire  free  and 
democratic  country  an  asylum  for  weak-minded  or  a 
corrective  institution  for  criminals.  In  trying  to  re- 
move temptation  and  the  possibility  of  evil  through  use 
of  liquor,  prohibitionists  come  dangerously  near  the  as- 
sumption that  we  are  a  nation  of  imbeciles  and  crimi- 
nals, not  to  be  trusted  with  choice  of  good  or  evil  nor 
personal  responsibility. 

Then  again  is  it  not  a  significant  fact  that  the  di- 
rection of  all  other  amendments  to  our  constitution  un- 
der which  we  have  so  markedly  progressed  have  been  to 
extend  rather  than  limit  personal  responsibility  and  to 
further  guarantee  individual  liberty  ?  Note  the  amend- 
ments extending  the  right  of  vote  to  citizens  regardless 
of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude ;  that 
no  state  shall  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty  or 
property  without  due  process  of  law;  that  no  man 
shall  be  held  in  involuntary  servitude  except  as  punish- 
ment for  crime  after  due  trial  and  conviction ;  providing 
for  a  more  direct  voice  of  the  individual  in  electing  a 
president  and  a  vice-president;  enumerating  certain 
rights  in  the  constitution  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny 
others  retained  by  the  people ;  that  excessive  bail,  fines 
or  punishment  shall  not  be  inflicted ;  guaranteeing  right 
to  trial  by  jury;  right  to  speedy  and  public  trial  by 
impartial  jury  and  provision  for  witnesses  and  counsel; 
guarantee  against  seizure  of  private  property  for  public 
use  without  just  compensation  and  against  compul- 
sion of  being  a  witness  against  one's  self;  extending 
security  to  one's  person,    houses,   papers    and  effects 

43 


against  unreasonable  search  and  seizure  except  by  war- 
rants duly  supported  by  oath ;  giving  the  right  to  the 
people  to  keep  and  bear  arms;  guaranteeing  freedom 
of  religion,  speech  and  press;  and  finally  the  19th 
amendment  extending  to  womanhood  the  personal  re- 
sponsibility of  franchise. 

Those  who  take  the  trouble  to  investigate  will  see 
that  from  the  very  beginning  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  itself  and  all  of  the  subsequent  amend- 
ments (with  one  exception)  have  been  in  behalf  of  the 
inalienable  rights  to  life,  liberty  and  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness so  long  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of 
others.  Right  or  wrong,  this  principle  of  giving  people 
more  responsibility  has  carried  the  American  nation 
well  to  the  front  in  the  world  family  of  nations.  The 
policy  must  be  constructive  to  succeed  so  well. 

But  the  one  conspicuous  amendment  which  differs 
radically  in  principle  from  all  the  others  and  the  con- 
stitution itself  is  the  18th.  Here  for  the  first  time  in 
American  history  we  find  a  diametrically  opposite 
course  so  far  as  the  individual  is  concerned.  Personal 
responsibility  for  the  right  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
instead  of  being  fastened  more  securely  upon  the  in- 
dividual's shoulders  is  actually  taken  away  from  him 
altogether  and  assumed  by  organized  society  through 
the  prohibitive  measures  for  removing  individual  choice 
and  the  temptation  to  evil  through  drink. 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  amendment  places 
every  individual  in  the  United  States  in  the  same  class 
of  incompetents  when  it  comes  to  trusting  their  respon- 
sibility in  the  use  of  intoxicants.  There  is  no  reward 
for  temperance,  no  incentive  nor  opportunity  for  de- 
velopment of  self-control.  All  are  assumed  to  be  guilty 
or  at  least  have  potentialities  of  guilt.  As  with  the 
school  master  who  punishes  all  to  secure  the  one  offen- 
der, prohibition  infringes  upon  the  rights  of  all  to 

44 


catch  the  few  who  lose  their  self-control  and  violate 
the  obligations  of  their  personal  responsibility. 

Even  physicians  who  daily  have  our  lives  in  their 
hands  would  not  be  trusted  to  prescribe  a  little  beer  for 
the  sick  for  fear  the  privilege  might  be  abused.  Trust 
them  with  our  lives  but  not  to  prescribing  beer ;  think 
of  the  inconsistency!  Daily  papers  record  close  sur- 
veillance of  sacramental  wines  for  fear  some  worshipper 
will  get  too  much.  It  is  a  sad  commentary  upon  the 
civilization  of  a  people  who  find  themselves  in  such  in- 
congruous positions  when  attempting  to  govern  them- 
selves. Distinguished  statesmen  point  out  that  the 
further  we  go  in  the  present  direction,  the  more  ap- 
parent it  becomes  that  other  sections  of  our  liberty-giv- 
ing constitution  are  being  threatened. 

Twisting  of  facts  appears  rampant.  The  nation's 
chief  executive  (the  late  and  lamented  Harding)  chal- 
lenged a  state  (New  York)  to  repeal  its  own  state 
Mullan-Gage  law.  Ardent  prohibitionists  could  not 
command  language  any  too  strong  nor  too  bitter  in  con- 
demnation of  New  York's  "rebellion."  They  overlooked 
the  fact  that  a  state  still  has  some  sovereign  rights.  In 
fact,  the  constitution  does  not  give  the  states  "rights" 
but  rather  from  the  beginning  the  states  have  reserved 
to  themselves  all  rights  except  those  given  to  the  na- 
tional government  and  provided  for  in  the  constitution. 

New  York's  repeal  of  its  own  enforcement  act  did 
not  legalize  anything  illegal  in  the  federal  law.  Yet 
it  showed  up  the  possible  conflict  between  federal  and 
state  enforcement  measures  as  well  as  the  accompany- 
ing opportunity  for  discord,  distrust  and  friction.  If 
New  York  is  in  rebellion  in  this  matter  what  about 
those  southern  states  that  have  adroitly  and  continu- 
ously defied  the  15th  amendment  giving  the  right  of 
franchise  to  the  colored  race  ?  Is  one  amendment  more 
binding  or  more  sacred  than  another? 

45 


Then  note  the  spectacle  America  presents  in  adapt- 
ing the  18th  amendment  to  the  high  seas  and  the  re- 
sulting tension  in  our  foreign  relations.  Even  though 
a  foreign  country  has  specific  laws  requiring  its  ships  to 
carry  intoxicants  our  Supreme  Court  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  they  must  come  dry  into  America — and 
presumably  return  dry.  Orders  were  given  by  our 
authorities  to  break  foreign  seals  and  confiscate  in- 
toxicants found  within  our  three  mile  limit  except  those 
for  medicinal  reserve.  Do  these  things  mean  harmony, 
good  will  and  world  comity  ?  Law  is  law  and  apparently 
we  are  within  our  rights.  The  case  is  mentioned  only 
as  an  example  of  where  initial  errors  may  eventually 
lead  and  the  embarrassing  conditions  they  may  bring. 

Has  it  occurred  to  anyone  that  the  underlying  rea- 
son for  all  this,  and  more  that  is  to  come,  may  be  be- 
cause we  have  embarked  upon  a  course  decreed  by  Na- 
ture as  the  Destructive  Principle  ?  Evil  and  destruction 
are  cumulative  just  as  much  as  are  good  and  construc- 
tion. One  error  is  prone  to  lead  to  another.  Here  are 
lines  of  thought  to  challenge  the  intelligence  and  sober 
judgment  of  a  naturally  progressive  and  liberty -loving 
people. 


46 


Chapter  VI. 
Morality  —  Conscience  —  Will 

There  is  a  spectacle  grander  than  the  ocean 
and  that  is  the  conscience. — [Victor  Hugo. 

From  the  remotest  ages  which  history  records,  on 
through  centuries  of  experience,  to  the  present  hour, 
mankind  and  nations  have  prospered  or  gone  into  decay- 
according  as  they  co-operated  with  or  opposed  Nature's 
fundamental  laws.  This  great  primary  fact  is  as  true 
of  things  spiritual,  moral  and  psychic  as  of  material 
or  physical.  As  surely  as  there  are  principles  or  forces 
which  uncontrolled  will  tear  down  and  destroy  our 
physical  bodies,  so  are  there  principles  and  forces  that 
when  they  gain  the  ascendancy  will  tear  down  and  dis- 
sipate intelligence,  morality  or  character. 

Tuberculosis,  fevers,  cholera  and  other  afflictions 
of  the  physical  body  if  unchecked  will  overcome  the 
natural  constructive  forces  of  resistance  and  the  de- 
structive powers  will  continue  the  process  of  breaking 
down  cell  growth  and  functioning  thereof  until  physical 
death  may  occur.  In  a  similar  way  evil  thinking  and 
bad  habits  if  uncontrolled  gain  the  ascendancy  in  their 
destructive  action  on  the  mental  and  soul  attributes  of 
an  individual  until  his  mentality  and  morality  are 
wrecked.  In  a  mental  and  moral  way,  as  w^ell  as  physi- 
cal, that  process  or  activity  which  is  given  priority  is 
what  grows  and  develops.  It  is  common  experience  that 
one  misdeed  prepares  an  easier  path  for  another  to  fol- 
low.   Conversely,  a  moral  victory  over  temptation  of 

47 


evil  makes  the  individual  that  much  stronger  for  the 
next  conflict. 

Accordingly  as  each  individual  encourages  the  con- 
structive forces  or  tolerates  the  destructive  activities 
to  be  in  the  ascendancy,  so  will  he  be  rev/arded  by  Na- 
ture's law  of  compensatory  justice  or  punished  by  her 
laws  of  retributive  justice.  This  is  universal  and  in- 
evitable. Thus  the  reason  and  logic  appears  in  the 
statement  that  every  individual  is  master  of  his  own 
destiny.  Exact  justice  will  be  rendered  by  Nature,  God 
or  Universal  Intelligence — here  or  hereafter.  "The 
mills  of  the  gods  grind  slowly  but  they  grind  exceeding- 
ly fine." 

These  generally  admitted  facts  are  mentioned  as  a 
gentle  reminder  to  a  somewhat  hasty  and  to  a  degree 
thoughtless  civilization  which  may  jump  at  conclusions, 
and  in  its  pride  of  success  in  harnessing  new  forces  of 
Nature,  as  well  as  its  pride  of  intellectual  vanity  of 
seeming  achievement,  does  not  "lose  its  head"  and  get 
the  exalted  notion  that  it  is  superior  to  the  Almighty. 
There  is  a  direct  connection  here  with  such  repressive 
laws  as  prohibition.  Preceding  chapters  have  en- 
deavored to  drive  home  the  thought  that  Nature  builds 
from  individualities  upward  and  outward  and  not  from 
groups  or  races  downward  and  inward. 

Nature's  laws  of  progress  and  evolution  are  from 
within  outward  rather  than  the  reverse.  That  is,  funda- 
mental development  is  with  individual  entities,  be  it  per- 
simmons, race  horses  or  man.  And  this  development  is 
from  within.  Sprinkling  sugar  on  the  outside  of  a  per- 
simmon will  not  alter  the  essential  character  of  the 
**puckerness"  within.  Red  is  an  admitted  "fast"  color, 
but  painting  a  race  horse  therewith  will  not  change  his 
speed.  Legislation  in  itself  alone,  of  however  com- 
mendable intent,  cannot  construct  a  temple  of  character 
and  morality  for  man. 

48 


The  great  mystery  of  individual  life,  development 
and  growth  which  has  puzzled  mankind  in  all  ages  is 
wrapped  up  in  the  process  by  which  a  chick  is  hatched 
from  an  egg.  If  we  knew  the  why  and  whyfor  of  this 
simple  manifestation  of  natural  laws,  we  could  fathom 
what  ?.3  now  counted  as  unknowable.  That  chick  within 
the  narrDw  confines  of  the  shell  may  have  an  intuition 
that  there  is  a  larger  world  outside  for  him  just  as  man 
in  his  normal  thoughtful  moments  has  an  inward  im- 
pulse that  this  world  is  not  all — that  there  are  still 
greater  possibilities  ahead  when  he  shall  have  crossed 
the  Great  Divide. 

Man  in  the  larger  outside  world  knows  there  are 
two  ways  that  the  chick  may  be  brought  into  contact 
with  a  new  world.  Nature  may  be  allowed  to  take  the 
slow  but  evolutionary  course  from  within  or  the  process 
may  be  forced  from  without.  Here  we  again  recognize 
our  immutable  principles  of  Construction  and  Destruc- 
tion. The  process  from  within  outward  is  life  to  that 
little  chick  and  a  simple  yet  profound  demonstration  of 
Nature^s  principle  of  constructive  advancement  or 
evolution.  The  other  process  of  force  from  without  by 
breaking  the  shell  is  death  to  the  chick  and  the  destruc- 
tive principle  in  operation. 

Now  all  this  is  analogous  to  man  with  the  added 
complications  that  we  are  dealing  with  the  higher  soul 
attributes  of  the  human  soul — self -consciousness,  inde- 
pendent choice,  reason  and  will.  As  already  elucidated, 
these  are  amenable  to  the  same  identical  laws  of  con- 
struction and  destruction.  Nature's  evolutionary 
method  of  development  is  from  within  the  individual 
and  not  from  force  without  as  prohibitive  laws  of  man 
would  have  us  believe.  Indeed,  is  it  not  apparent  that 
organized  society  in  this  process  of  forcing  morality, 
conscienciousness,  choice  and  will  upon  the  individual 
from  without  thereby  robs  that  individual  of  the  op- 

49 


portunity  for  self-development  from  within,  and  de- 
feats its  own  eiids  ? 

To  many  it  appears  a  higher  mission  for  organized 
society  as  such,  to  foster  the  moral  responsibility  of  the 
individual  than  to  exert  its  energies  demanding  mere 
legal  responsibilities.  As  judged  by  the  standards  of 
Nature,  the  latter  is  placing  the  cart  ahead  of  the  horse. 
Given  a  sense  of  moral  responsibility,  society  need  not 
fear  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  or  that  the  individual  can- 
not move  the  burden  of  legal  responsibility.  Given 
morahty,  laws  would  indeed  be  simplified ;  likewise  their 
enforcement.  But  given  laws  by  no  means  simplifies 
morality  and  much  less  the  enforcement  thereof. 

Why  does  an  intelligent  citizenry  insist  upon  defy- 
ing Nature's  manifold  examples  of  construction  by  try- 
ing to  force  or  legislate  morality  into  the  individual 
from  without  as  exemplified  in  prohibition?  It  would 
be  just  as  logical  to  start  building  a  house  by  putting  on 
a  roof  before  there  is  a  foundation.  Morality  is  the 
foundation  upon  which  society  should  build  if  it  is  to 
have  a  structure  which  will  endure  the  manifold  temp- 
tations of  man.  Morality  is  impossible  without  the  co- 
operation of  the  individual.  But  man  is  so  constituted 
that  force  from  without  doesn't  appear  to  make  of  him 
a  very  willing  co-operator.  In  fact,  force  begets  opposi- 
tion. 

Logically,  prohibition  destroys  the  very  bridges  by 
which  organized  society  would  cross  the  dismal  and 
destructive  stream  of  lawlessness.  These  bridges  are 
moral  accountability  and  personal  responsibility,  but- 
tressed by  the  human  soul  attributes  of  self-conscien- 
ciousness,  reason,  independent  choice  and  will.  Instead 
of  repairing  and  strengthening  these  soul  attributes  of 
man  by  which  the  super-structure  of  morality  and  re- 
sponsibility are  supported  the  destructive  course  is 
adopted  of  undermining  and  tearing  them  down.    The 

50 


inevitable  result  to  the  bridges  of  accountability  and 
responsibility  are  already  in  evidence.  Organized  so- 
ciety is  becoming  alarmed  lest  it  be  thrown  into  the  de- 
structive stream  of  lawlessness.  Sane  logic  counsels 
the  repair  of  the  foundations  rather  than  the  cursing 
of  the  bridges.  Therefore,  instead  of  depriving  man  of 
original  choice,  reason  and  will,  it  is  plain  horse  sense 
to  develop,  improve,  expand,  enlarge  and  unfold  them, 
to  the  end  that  he  can  the  better  carry  an  increasing 
burden  of  moral  accountability  and  personal  respon- 
sibihty. 

Each  normal  individual  is  endowed  with  a  con- 
science, an  inward  conviction  or  acknowledgement  of 
that  which  is  good  or  bad.    It  is  a  spark  of  the  Divine 
within  us.    This  silent  monitor  passes  judgment  upon 
the  thoughts  and  actions  of  each  individual  whatever 
he  does  or  wherever  he  goes.    The  world  is  full  of  ex- 
periences to  prove  the  impossibility  of  evading  or  run- 
ning away  from  one's  own  conscience.   The  principle  of 
prohibition  instead  of  allying  itself  with  this  ever  pres- 
ent and  powerful  agency  in  each  individual  disregards 
it  altogether  and  in  a  great  measure  actually  opposes 
it.    Prohibitionists  must  admit  there  are  many  people 
whose  conscience  does  not  discern  wrong  in  moderate 
use  of  intoxicants  above  i/^  of  1  %  alcoholic  content.  On 
the  contrary,  their  conscience  actually  rebels  against 
divesting  the  individual  of  choice,  reason  and  will.   Con- 
science says  obey  the  country's  laws  but  the  same  con- 
science says  the  laws  are  wrong.    Here  is  a  case  of  a 
house  divided  against  itself.    History  informs  us  that 
sooner  or  later  such  a  house  must  fall.    Indeed,  they  are 
tumbling  every  day  by  the  thousands  as  evidenced  by 
violation  of  the  prohibition  statutes. 

But  witness  the  transformation  if  prohibition  were 
co-operating  with  conscience,  that  Divine  spark.  The 
individual  conscience  would  advise  obedience  to  the 

51 


country's  laws.  In  addition  it  would  declare  for  inalien- 
able rights  and  pursuit  of  happiness,  so  long  as  in  the 
gaining  thereof  you  do  not  interfere  with  the  rights 
and  happiness  of  others.  Here  we  have  a  house  united, 
obeying  the  law,  exercising  rights  and  pursuing  happi- 
ness in  perfect  harmony  and  to  the  profound  advance- 
ment of  organized  society.  But  this  is  a  condition  which 
prohibition  makes  impossible,  since  it  recognizes  con- 
science only  from  the  standpoint  of  the  country's  man- 
datory laws. 

As  it  is  working  out  in  actual  practice  a  premium 
is  placed  upon  the  evasion  of  the  law.  Both  young  and 
old  instead  of  having  an  involuntary  sense  of  wrong  do- 
ing when  managing  to  get  a  drink,  really  feel  it  more 
as  an  achievement.  Unreasonable  and  unfortunate  as 
this  may  seem,  it  is  to  be  expected  when  one's  con- 
science, "that  silent  but  powerful  voice  within,"  says 
it  is  all  right  to  maintain  your  inalienable  rights  and 
pursue  individual  happiness  so  long  as  you  do  not 
thereby  interfere  with  others  who  are  seeking  the  same 
rights  and  privileges.  Thus  prohibition  enforcement 
finds  itself  arrayed  against  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
just  such  cases  where  the  conscience  in  all  normal  af- 
fairs is  of  high  order  and  a  credit  to  any  nation. 

Obviously,  the  harmony  which  society  is  properly 
seeking  can  be  obtained  only  in  two  ways,  either  modi- 
fying the  country's  laws  or  changing  the  conscience  of 
the  individual.  Yet  note  that  prohibition  is  not  inter- 
ested in  individual  conscience  except  from  a  legal  stand- 
point. It  arbitrarily  outlaws  personal  choice,  reason 
and  will,  and  thereby  eliminates  the  possibility  of  reach- 
ing harmony  through  the  development  of  individual 
conscience  and  morality.  Outlawing  these  natural  and 
essential  soul  attributes  is  the  very  thing  that  outrages 
the  individual  conscience.  That  is,  the  conscience  can- 
not be  changed  until  prohibition  is   changed   and  the 

52 


things  removed  that  outrage  it.  Hence  the  conclusion 
that  the  only  avenue  to  harmony  is  the  changing  of  the 
prohibitory  law. 

So  long  as  individual  conscience  is  arrayed  against 
prohibition  the  bridges  of  morality  and  responsibility 
will  continue  to  totter.  To  alter  conscience  is  to  re- 
store the  foundation  functions  of  choice,  reason  and  will 
and  the  freedom  to  those  individual  rights  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  that  do  not  interfere  with  others.  But 
this  would  not  be  prohibition.  Thus  is  suggested  the 
destructive  and  discordant  condition  to  which  prohibi- 
tion condemns  itself. 

At  this  point  attention  is  called  to  the  great  en- 
couraging truth  that  individual  conscience  can  be 
changed.  How  to  change  it  for  the  better  is  the  ques- 
tion to  which  organized  society  should  be  giving  its  at- 
tention. We  have  just  seen  how  prohibition  cannot  pos- 
sibly change  it  except  for  the  worse.  Discussion  of  the 
details  of  development  and  growth  of  conscience  would 
carry  us  beyond  the  limits  of  this  volume. 

All  that  space  here  permits  is  to  point  out  that  so- 
ciety is  now  headed  up  a  blind  alley  that  leads  nowhere 
unless  it  be  to  more  uncertainty,  darkness  and  trouble. 
The  first  task  is  to  get  out  of  this  destructive  course  of 
pitfalls  onto  the  solid  highway  of  moral  accountability 
and  personal  responsibility.  This  means  that  organized 
society  should  retrace  its  steps  and  get  back  to  the  leg- 
islative parting  of  the  ways  and  secure  a  right  start  in 
harmony  with  the  forces  involved.  All  these  forces  are 
in  the  direction  of  individual  development,  growth  and 
unfoldment,  and  not  the  course  which  stifles  and  an- 
tagonizes individual  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will. 
Let  not  society  deceive  itself  in  the  belief  and  hope  that 
the  two  roads  will  join  later  on.  They  are  in  diametri- 
cally opposite  directions. 

63 


To  anticipate  the  prohibitionists  argument,  and  it 
is  but  an  argument  to  confuse,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  natural  constructive  road  by  no  means  makes  the 
conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will  of  a  single  individual 
supreme.  There  is  the  automatic  check  and  safeguard 
that  these  must  not  go  beyond  the  point  where  their  ex- 
ercise interferes  with  another  individual  who  is  exer- 
cising the  same  soul  attributes  in  his  own  behalf.  Here 
is  the  duty  and  obligation  of  society.  Here  is  where 
constructive  legal  encouragement  or  legal  restraint,  as 
the  case  may  be,  is  to  be  applied.  Here  is  where  or- 
ganized society  should  function  by  stimulating  every 
soul  faculty  to  free  and  unrestrained  expression  and 
at  the  same  time  guarding  similar  protection  to  others. 
A  policy  of  complete  restraint,  as  in  prohibition,  is  to 
stultify  the  faculties  by  which  morality  and  responsi- 
bility are  developed  and  without  which  progress  is  im- 
possible. 

The  entire  constitution  and  the  subsequent  amend- 
ments, except  the  18th,  have  directed  their  efforts  to 
guarding  the  development  and  growth  of  the  human 
soul  attributes.  This  guardianship  gives  the  greatest 
latitude  to  individual  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will 
so  long  as  their  manifestations  do  not  interfere  with 
others.  Of  course,  the  guarantee  is  valueless  unless 
there  are  legal  and  enforceable  measures  to  punish 
those  who,  having  been  granted  such  liberty,  abuse  it 
to  the  discomfiture  of  others.  Such  is  the  legal  mission 
to  which  American  organized  society  has  been  giving 
its  attention  all  these  years.  But  prohibition  changes 
the  guardianship  to  dictatorship  disregarding  indi- 
vidual conscience,  and  abrogating  the  powers  of  choice, 
reason  and  will — this  whether  their  exercise  would  be 
interfering  with  others  or  not.  It  is  trial,  conviction 
and  sentence  in  advance  of  wrong  doing.  Is  it  so 
strange  that  a  liberty-reared  conscience  feels  outraged  ? 

54 


Is  it  so  surprising  that  prohibition  apparently  fails  to 
prohibit  ?  Is  it  so  astounding  that  we  are  drifting  into 
a  spirit  of  lawlessness  ? 

Let  no  one  argue  that  man  still  has  choice,  respon- 
sibility, etc,  under  prohibition  since  he  can  still  patron- 
ize the  bootlegger  if  he  so  desires.  With  real  prohibi- 
tion under  the  Volstead  act  there  would  be  no  bootleg- 
ger, no  possible  opportunity  to  secure  anything  beyond 
1/2  of  1  %  alcoholic  content.  Enforce  the  law  as  all  are 
urging  and  the  individual  will  have  no  choice,  even 
though  he  be  a  millionaire. 

Then  just  a  word  about  the  soul  faculty  or  power 
of  will.  It  is  well  known  that  those  physical  muscles 
are  developed  which  are  exercised.  An  arm  tied  in  a 
sling  for  a  few  months  loses  much  of  its  former 
strength.  The  same  holds  true  of  mental  man.  Train- 
ing, drilling  or  exercising  the  brain  along  any  line  of 
thought  such  as  invention  results  in  increasing  strength 
or  ability  in  that  direction.  A  brain  so  educated,  sees 
and  grasps  possibilities  that  do  not  exist  to  one  not  so 
developed.  In  precisely  the  same  manner  will  and  other 
soul  faculties  or  powers  of  man  develop  or  stagnate.  If 
there  is  to  be  a  strong  will  it  must  be  educated,  trained 
and  exercised.  Failure  to  exercise  means  loss  of 
strength  the  same  as  with  an  unused  arm  or  brain. 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  direction  of  prohibition  is  to 
eliminate  the  exercise  of  individual  will  power,  by  keep- 
ing liquor  away  from  man,  so  his  will,  if  it  chances  to 
be  weak,  may  not  be  called  upon  to  exert  itself?  By 
what  process  of  reasoning  does  organized  society  reach 
the  conclusion  that  it  can  deny  mankind  the  exercise  of 
will  power  as  between  good  and  evil  and  at  the  same 
time  expect  more  individual  self-reliance,  dependability 
and  the  assumption  of  further  burdens  of  moral  ac- 
countability and  personal  responsibility?  Can  man 
stand  still  and  go  forward  at  the  same  time  ?    Can  his 

55 


will  be  surrendered  and  he  still  have  one  to  exercise  ?  A 
more  logical  course  is  for  society  to  mark  out  a  plan 
of  training,  instructing,  drilling  and  exercising  for 
weak-willed  individuals  so  they  may  improve  and  in  due 
time  take  their  places  beside  those  whose  will  powers 
are  proof  against  temptation  of  Uquor  abuses.  Would 
not  this  be  more  practical  and  constructive  than  main- 
taining an  army  of  officials  to  ferret  out,  search  for  and 
seize  liquor  temptation  before  man  can  be  trusted  to 
proceed  on  his  everyday  duties  and  enjoyment  of  Hfe? 

There  is  the  further  important  fact  that  a  will 
power  once  trained  and  educated  is  itself  a  protection 
against  all  manner  of  temptation  and  evil.  If  prohibi- 
tion could  succeed  in  removing  the  temptation  of  liquor, 
the  job  of  preventing  evil  and  crime  would  only  be 
started.  All  the  other  temptations  of  mortal  mxan  would 
have  to  be  sought  out  and  eliminated  one  by  one,  with 
the  same  odds  of  Nature  to  fight  against  as  are  appear- 
ing in  the  liquor  undertaking.  The  mind  cannot  grasp 
the  immenseness  of  such  a  task,  much  less  the  sort  of  a 
country  or  government  we  would  have  when  the  work 
was  completed.  But  it  is  not  so  difficult  to  picture  the 
training  and  progressive  development  of  a  will  power 
in  man  with  which  he  can  march  any  time,  anywhere 
to  meet  any  or  all  of  these  same  temptations  and  be 
trusted  to  give  a  good  account  of  himself.  This  brings 
us  to  our  next  forward  step,  worthy  of  a  chapter  by  it- 
self. 


56 


Chapter  VII. 
Self-Control  Versus  Self-indulgence 

A  charge  to  keep,  I  have 

A  God  to  glorify, 

A  never-dying  soul  to  save, 

And  fit  it  for  the  sky. — [Charles  Wesley. 

Self-control  is  the  master  key  to  human  prog- 
ress. It  opens  the  way  for  each  and  every  individ- 
ual to  the  richest  and  choicest  treasures  within,  be 
it  material,  mental,  moral,  spiritual  or  psychical. 
Placed  within  the  grasp  of  every  normal  man  and 
woman  who  has  reached  the  age  of  accountability, 
the  key  is  too  seldom  applied.  In  the  vast  majority 
of  cases  it  is  like  the  conscience  of  a  confirmed  crimi- 
nal— good  as  new  for  it  is  seldom  used.  Yet  the 
profound  fact  that  each  individual  sooner  or  later 
will  learn  is,  that  he  must  use  it,  here  or  hereafter, 
or  be  condemned  to  eternal  darkness.  Nature  pro- 
vides no  other  possible  alternative.  There  is  none. 
It  is  a  veritable  milestone  in  the  journey  of  each 
human  soul  that  must  be  passed  if  that  soul  is  to 
persist. 

The  ingenuity  of  man  for  ages  has  been  en- 
gaged in  establishing  theories,  philosophies,  re- 
ligions and  laws  which  would  evade  this  milestone 
and  allow  man  to  excuse  himself,  to  "sop  his  con- 
science" and  allow  him  to  continue  his  journey  in 
the  insidious  belief  that  he  can  elude  Self-control. 
Prohibition  it  would  seem  is  America's  most  recent 
effort  in  a  large  way  to  thus  abandon  a  responsibil- 

57 


ity  placed  upon  individual  man  by  the  Creator.  It 
would  remove  the  temptation  of  liquor  from  his 
reach  so  he  can  progress  without  having  to  pass  this 
milestone  of  Self-control. 

Since  the  days  of  Adam  humanity  has  been 
marching  down  the  highway  of  life.  In  an  inces- 
sant, never-ending  procession,  it  reaches  this  first 
great  milestone  where  the  road  divides.  To  the  left 
is  a  broad,  inviting  thoroughfare;  to  the  right  is  a 
narrow  and  rough  passage.  The  road  to  the  left 
is  Self-indulgence,  to  the  right  Self-control.  Enough 
books  (some  profound,  others  less  so)  have  been 
written  to  fill  a  small  library,  philosophizing,  specu- 
lating, dogmatizing  upon  the  fact  that  the  majority 
of  mankind  chooses  the  left-hand  route  of  Self-in- 
dulgence. This  choice  should  not  be  so  surprising 
for  the  road  is  wide,  attractive,  much  traveled  and 
all  down  grade.  To  follow  it  is  little  effort — simply 
the  yielding  of  one's  self  to  the  force  of  gravity  and 
to  the  spirit  of  delightful  abandonment  which  ap- 
pears to  be  implanted  in  every  soul. 

No  man  knows  why  the  Creator  elected  to  en- 
dow man  with  natural  inclinations  which  urge  him 
into  ways  of  living  that  his  own  conscience  tells  him 
are  evil.  Nor  do  we  know  why  He  made  the  down- 
ward, destructive  road  of  Self-indulgence  so  much 
more  enticing  than  the  difl^cult  one  of  Self-control. 
Neither  does  man  know  why  the  Creator's  plan 
makes  it  necessary  for  humanity  to  spend  so  much 
time  and  to  exert  so  much  personal  effort  in  combat- 
ing these  inherent  tendencies  that  are  forever  push- 
ing man  into  the  road  of  destruction.  There  are  a 
lot  of  other  things  we  do  not  know. 

But  the  significant  fact  is  that  the  Creator  also 
endowed  man   with   an  independent   self-conscien- 

58 


tiousness  which  advises  him  unfailingly  of  the  right 
and  the  wrong.  He  went  even  farther  by  implant- 
ing an  instinct  or  desire  in  each  human  soul  to 
reach  out  for  better  things.  But  through  the  law 
of  compensation  these  better  things  are  only  for 
those  who  will  pay  the  price.  That  price  is  the 
rough  and  up-hill  road  of  Self-control. 

As  this  impulse  for  better  things  is  individual 
and  personal,  so  must  the  effort  of  Self-control  be 
individual  and  personal.  Each  must  personally 
travel  the  road  and  overcome  the  obstacles.  There 
can  be  no  sending  of  substitutes,  no  delegates  in  ad- 
vance to  clear  the  way  and  reduce  the  grades.  That 
this  is  true  is  axiomatic,  and  besides  if  it  were  pos- 
sible for  others  to  dislodge  the  obstructions  for  those 
who  would  follow,  the  road  to  the  right  would  have 
become  a  little  more  inviting  through  passing  cen- 
turies. So  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge,  the  relative 
attractiveness  of  the  two  roads  (Self-indulgence  and 
Self-control)  remains  the  same  today  as  in  the  days 
of  Adam.  If  passing  years  show  a  higher  percent- 
age of  mankind  choosing  the  road  of  Self-control 
(and  how  earnestly  this  is  desired)  it  is  due  more 
to  the  unfoldment  of  Nature's  plan  and  the  Divine 
impulse  for  better  things  than  to  any  new  short  cuts 
or  easier  grades  on  the  strenuous  path  of  Self-con- 
trol. 

These  profound  truths  are  old  as  the  hills,  yet 
they  appear  to  have  been  lost  to  view  by  prohibi- 
tionists. Otherwise,  they  would  not  waste  time  and 
effort  sending  out  an  army  of  prohibition  enforce- 
ment officials  to  clear  the  liquor  obstacle  from  the 
road  of  Self-control  so  it  may  be  more  inviting  and 
easier  for  each  individual  to  travel.  Personal  effort 
or  no  personal  reward  is  the  plan  of  God  or  Nature. 

59 


Without  this  fundamental  law  where  would  be  the 
logic  of  maintaining  the  Christian  religion?  If  the 
labor  could  be  delegated  and  the  individual  live  a 
holy  and  righteous  life  without  himself  actually  as- 
suming the  responsibilities,  then  religion  would  in- 
deed be  simple.  We  could  merely  delegate  the 
priests  and  ministers  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  eternal  life  for  our  souls.  This  might  appeal  to 
some  but  it  is  not  His  plan. 

To  delegate  others  to  smooth  out  or  assume 
responsibility  of  individual  Self-control  likewise 
sounds  alluring  and  obviously  had  great  appealing 
powers  in  prohibition.  The  doctrine  seems  to  be :  Let 
society  and  the  law  take  the  responsibility.  It  is 
but  another  clever  plan  of  inventive  man  to  dodge 
or  evade  individual  Self-control.  By  it  he  would 
send  forces  ahead  to  clear  the  temptation  of  intox- 
icants from  the  pathway  so  he  can  slip  past  the 
milestone  of  Self-control  without  personal  effort. 
This  may  be  an  exception  but  human  experience  is 
rich  in  testimony  that  Self-control  is  a  personal  labor 
and  that  any  scheme  of  evasion  is  a  snare  and  a  de- 
lusion. 

Special  attention  is  directed  to  the  fact  that 
prohibition  is  a  plan  to  relieve  man  of  the  burden 
of  Self-control  in  using  or  abusing  intoxicants.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  how  any  considerable  portion  of 
organized  society  can  argue  that  eternal  life  can  be 
earned  only  through  development  and  exercise  of 
Self-control  in  carnal  appetites  and  desires,  and 
how  freedom  from  the  liquor  evil  can  be  had  by 
avoiding  Self-control  of  those  identical  appetites 
and  desires.  Will  those  who  sponsor  such  logic  ex- 
plain why  progress  of  man  in  one  instance  is  depend- 
ent upon  his  exercise  of  Self-control  and  in  the  other 

60 


upon  his  non-exercise  of  that  individual  power.  Does 
not  the  logic  of  the  prohibition  doctrine  carry  man 
farther  away  from  the  Self-control  milestone  which 
the  Christian  religion  teaches  that  each  individual 
must  pass?  Why  does  organized  society  aid  and 
abet  man  in  this  subtle  sophistry  that  there  is  an- 
other way  around? 

True  Christianity  never  advocates  evasion  of 
personal  responsibility  but  it  emphatically  insists 
upon  Self-control.  Why  doesn't  society  and  church- 
anity  likewise  place  the  responsibility  of  Self-control 
upon  the  shoulders  of  each  individual  where  Nature 
located  it  instead  of  attempting  to  remove  it  by  law? 
Give  man  this  responsibility  and  the  ability  to  ex- 
ercise Self-control  and  there  will  be  no  need  to  dis- 
cuss prohibition.  The  motive  and  goal  of  prevent- 
ing crime  and  misery  through  abuse  of  liquor  will 
be  attained  and  in  perfect  accord  with  natural  laws 
of  progress. 

What  the  American  public  today  is  seeking, 
whether  it  knows  it  or  not,  is  individual  Self-control, 
moral  accountability  and  personal  responsibility. 
With  intoxicants  it  chose  the  avenue  of  prohibition 
to  get  them.  But  analysis  discloses,  and  experience 
will  later  demonstrate,  that  this  road  leads  man 
away  from  Self-control  by  removing  temptation. 
The  pertinent  question  is  how  can  we  engage  and 
master  an  adversary  by  running  away  from  him. 
Thus  comes  the  inevitable  logic  that  our  efforts  are 
misdirected. 

A  person  cannot  in  one  jump  span  the  distance 
between  New  York  and  San  Francisco.  He  must 
take  the  intermediate  steps  or  their  equivalent.  So 
with  total  abstinence  of  liquor,  if  that  is  the  desire 
of  society.    The  jump  from  general  use  as  beverage 

61 


to  no  use  would  seem  impossible  without  the  inter- 
mediate steps  or  their  equivalent  in  individual  de- 
velopment of  Self-control,  accountability  and  re- 
sponsibility. How  are  these  to  be  developed  by 
denying  them  to  man?  But  when  these  are  reached 
and  passed,  our  goal  is  attained  and  prohibition  un- 
necessary. 

Wishing  and  legislating  will  not  get  one  across 
the  continent.  Neither  will  the  thoughts  or  motives 
of  what  good  he  could  do  thereby,  accomplish  it. 
He  must  make  a  personal  effort  and  pay  the  price. 
Similarly,  wishing  and  legislating  will  not  abolish 
the  misuse  of  liquor,  even  though  the  motive  be 
worthy.  Individual  man  must  make  the  personal 
effort  and  pay  the  price.  That  effort  and  price  are 
Self-control,  accountability  and  responsibility.  Any 
device,  scheme  or  plan  that  leads  him  away  from 
these,  be  it  in  the  name  of  prohibition  or  any  other 
laws  or  philosophies,  is  only  postponing  the  in- 
evitable. The  irresistible  logic  is  that  the  sooner 
America  abandons  its  prohibitory  panacea  and  gives 
attention  to  the  development  of  individual  Self-con- 
trol, moral  accountability  and  personal  responsibil- 
ity, the  sooner  will  we  be  on  the  right  road  to  dimin- 
ishing crime,  evil  and  misery  that  misuse  of  intox- 
icants entails. 

Then  there  is  the  further  stimulating  truth  that 
a  victory  for  Self-control,  accountability  and  re- 
sponsibility, is  a  tremendous  forward  stride  toward 
the  evils  in  all  other  temptations  to  which  human 
flesh  is  heir.  Social  evil,  robbery,  forgery,  arson, 
murder  and  dozens  of  other  crimes,  misdemeanors 
and  bad  habits  yield  to  the  same  treatment.  In  fact, 
there  is  no  other  cure  than  through  individual  Self- 
control,    accountability    and    responsibility.      Man 

62 


thus  triune  armed  can  go  forth  into  a  world  of  temp- 
tation and  come  out  unscathed.  It  should  be  the 
highest  mission  of  organized  society  to  give  each 
individual  every  assistance  and  incentive  to  such  a 
moral  armament  rather  than  v^aste  needless  time 
and  effort  trying  to  build  stockades  and  barbed  v^ire 
entanglements  about  him  through  removal  of  temp- 
tation by  prohibitory  laws. 

We  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  in  fencing 
something  away  from  man  we  thereby  fence  him 
within.  If  the  prohibition  panacea  principle  of 
guarding  man  from  evil  temptation  is  followed 
through  for  the  multitude  of  destructive  agents 
other  than  liquor,  the  protective  maze  of  legal  en- 
tanglement would  have  to  be  so  dense  and  compli- 
cated that  man  would  be  hopelessly  beyond  rescue. 
If  the  imagination  can  be  stretched  to  the  point 
where  these  legal  barriers  could  shield  man  from 
all  temptation,  then  picture  the  sort  of  pitiable  speci- 
men of  humanity  caged  within.  He  would  no  longer 
be  man,  for  like  an  imprisoned  animal  he  would 
have  nothing  to  do  but  depend  upon  others  for  the 
things  which  he  did  or  should  have  done  for  himself 
previous  to  incarceration.  A  civilization  that  ac- 
cepts the  dogma  of  making  life  easier  to  live,  of 
doing  for  the  individual  what  his  development  de- 
pends upon  his  doing  for  himself,  is  distinctly  deca- 
dent and  inevitably  leads  downward.  Thus  Nature 
blazons  in  indelible  figures  the  fallacy  of  prohibi- 
tion. 

Everyday  experiences  of  mankind  in  all  ages 
since  the  beginning  of  time  of  which  there  is  any 
authentic  record,  confirm  Nature's  law  that  desires, 
impulses,  cravings,  tendencies  and  emotions  of  the 
human    soul    cannot    be    annihilated,     eradicated, 

63 


abolished  or  extinguished.  They  are  a  part  of  man 
and  cannot  be  eliminated  without  destroying  man's 
estate  and  making  him  something  else.  Water  is 
two  parts  hydrogen  and  one  part  oxygen.  To  sep- 
arate either  from  the  combination  results  in  the 
destruction  of  the  water  itself;  it  becomes  something 
else.  Therefore,  comes  the  self-evident  conviction 
that  it  is  a  barren  waste  of  time  and  energy  to  up- 
root and  remove  the  primary  and  essential  elements 
of  the  soul  which  makes  man  human. 

Nature's  prescribed  path  of  progress  is  not  in 
that  direction  at  all.  Rather  is  it  in  the  line  of  ac- 
quiring that  quality  and  quantity  of  Self-control 
which  will  master,  direct  and  govern  the  natural 
appetites,  passions  and  desires  of  man.  The  truly 
masterful  man  is  he  who  can  give  these  inherent 
qualities  the  greatest  latitude  without  permitting 
them  to  go  beyond  the  line  of  constructive  principles 
and  become  destructive.  But  how  is  this  quality  and 
quantity  of  Self-control  to  be  developed  if  we  accept 
the  dogma  of  prohibition  to  avoid  those  things  which 
require  the  exercise  of  Self-control?  As  well  ex- 
pect an  athlete  to  develop  his  muscles  by  going  to 
bed  for  weeks  and  resting  rather  than  a  course  of 
vigorous  personal  effort  along  constructive  lines. 

Then  let  the  advocates  of  temptation  removal 
remember  their  task  would  not  be  ended  with  the 
avoidance  of  those  appetites,  desires  and  propen- 
sities of  man's  animal  nature.  Possibility  of  crime, 
evil  and  misery  instead  of  stopping  with  the  field  of 
animal  propensities  extends  on  to  other  divisions  of 
human  nature.  Take  for  example  the  emotion  of 
anger  in  all  its  varying  shades  from  rage,  fury,  hate 
and  revenge  on  through  jealousy  and  envy  to  mere 
displeasure  or  annoyance.     Who  will  say  that  ex- 

64 


treme  wrath,  revenge  or  jealousy  are  not  just  as 
destructive  to  the  individual,  both  physically  and 
morally,  as  the  indulgence  of  an  appetite  for  intox- 
icants or  social  evil?  These  unchecked  extremes 
of  anger,  revenge  and  jealousy  are  likewise  freight- 
ed with  the  same  possibilities  of  misery  and  death 
to  others  as  are  unbridled  liquor  habits.  When  they 
enter  the  home  or  office,  harmony  and  progress  de- 
part. Just  as  in  the  animal  appetites  the  evasion  of 
Self-control  can  never  bring  them  under  the  master- 
ship of  the  individual.  In  Proverbs  we  read:  "He 
that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than  the  mighty  and 
he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than  he  who  taketh  a  city." 

To  the  destructive  emotion  of  anger  may  be 
added  that  of  fear  in  its  varying  degrees  of  dread, 
terror,  despair,  anxiety,  despondency  and  suspicion. 
Also  add  the  frailty  of  vanity  either  of  person  or  of 
intellect;  also  selfishness,  greed,  self-pity,  laziness 
and  the  whole  human  scale  of  destructive  emotional 
habits  and  inclinations.  Just  where  would  pro- 
hibition begin  and  leave  off  in  removing  these  temp- 
tations common  to  everyday  life?  They  are  laden 
with  error,  suffering  and  evil  just  as  is  the  indul- 
gence of  animal  appetites. 

So  worthy  an  emotion  as  religion  may  be  in- 
dulged in  to  the  point  of  the  destructive  principle. 
Here  as  everywhere  the  keynote  is  temperance  and 
Self-control.  In  a  word.  Nature  decrees  that  there 
is  not  a  passion,  emotion,  ambition  or  desire  of  man, 
which  in  itself  is  right  and  proper,  that  cannot  be 
allowed  to  grow  and  develop  to  a  point  which  is 
destructive.  All  of  these  activities  and  attributes 
of  Nature  may  and  should  be  encouraged  so  long 
as  they  are  constructive  and  in  harmony  with  na- 
tural laws  of  development  and  progress.     It  is  the 

65 


natural  part  of  man's  estate  to  work  and  earn  his 
daily  bread.  The  triumph  over  one  task  is  an  in- 
dividual achievement  or  momentum  to  encounter 
the  next.  So  is  it  man's  daily  and  natural  estate  to 
meet  and  master  temptations  and  the  human  tend- 
encies and  cravings,  which,  if  indulged  beyond  con- 
trol, will  develop  and  grow  until  they  become  de- 
structive, whether  in  themselves  good  or  bad.  One 
victory  is  an  individual  achievement  or  momentum 
to  combat  the  next. 

But  what  is  the  magic  wand  that  guarantees 
continued  victory  in  this  life  struggle?  It  cannot 
be  the  dogma  of  prohibition  for  that  would  avoid 
the  individual  battle  entirely  through  elimination  or 
by  robbing  the  individual  of  a  choice  or  an  opportu- 
nity to  meet  the  enemy.  Neither  can  it  be  a  course  of 
unbridled  and  uncontrolled  indulgence  which  grad- 
ually weakens,  breaks  down  and  paralyzes  the  con- 
structive forces  until  the  destructive  are  in  com- 
mand. 

If  not  these  extremes  what  then  is  the  great  re- 
storative? There  is  one  and  only  one.  It  is  Self- 
control.  This  is  the  great  master  key.  Only  by  its 
use  can  we  fulfill  the  destiny  marked  out  in  the  plan 
of  the  Creator,  or  approach  the  teachings  of  the 
Master  Jesus.  For  emphasis,  let  it  be  repeated  that 
any  religion,  philosophy  or  law  which  would  evade 
or  temporize  individual  Self-control  is  a  snare  and  a 
delusion.  This  sweeping  decree  of  Nature  includes 
the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act  regardless  of 
their  genuine  and  most  commendable  motive  for 
good. 

This  chapter  would  be  incomplete  without  a  re- 
minder to  readers  that  Self-control  in  no  way  means 
self-suppression,   emasculation  or  smothering  of  a 

66 


single  impulse  or  desire  in  human  nature.  What  it 
means,  and  all  it  means,  is  that  these  shall  be  so 
completely  under  the  direction  or  control  of  the  in- 
dividual that  he  can  immediately  by  exercise  of  his 
will  arrest,  suspend,  or  convert  these  emotions,  im- 
pulses, desires  and  tendencies  into  constructive 
energy.  No  practical  or  moral  purpose  was  served 
by  the  barbarous  Yogi  system  of  Orientals  in  phys- 
ical torture  of  their  person.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
Self-control  evidenced  by  our  American  Indians  in 
their  stoicism,  serenity  and  tranquility  in  the  torture 
and  multilations  of  their  bodies.  It  does  show  re- 
markable will  power  and  Self-control  in  withstand- 
ing pain  to  the  physical  body.  But  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  development  of  mental  and  moral  Self- 
control.  Nor  is  it  a  duty  or  obligation  a  person  owes 
himself  or  to  anyone  else. 

Soul  mastery  means  more  than  mere  physical 
mastery.  The  tranquility  and  Self-control  for  which 
man  should  strive  is  not  that  of  inertia  and  stagna- 
tion but  rather  of  action  and  service.  There  is  no 
particular  merit  in  sterile  self-denial  nor  the  mere 
act  of  abstaining.  They  may  be  of  value  at  times  as 
a  means  to  an  end  but  are  never  the  goal  itself. 
Once  an  individual  gets  his  ideas  organized  about 
not  doing  something  the  temptation  is  strong  to  stop 
there  and  his  life  becomes  negative  and  unproduc- 
tive. There  is  no  such  a  thing  as  a  negative  virtue. 
At  the  final  judgment  we  will  not  be  asked  what  we 
abstained  from  doing,  but  rather  what  did  we  do. 

Life  is  not  all  of  one  piece  and  of  unfruitful 
self-denial.  At  one  time  it  may  be  fitting  and  proper 
to  be  gay;  at  another  solemn.  Some  occasions  may 
demand  abstention,  at  others  a  degree  of  indulgence. 
Here  is  where  the  master  key  of  Self-control  opens 

67 


the  right  way  to  any  and  all  circumstances.  It  safe- 
guards the  art  of  living  abundantly,  of  expression 
rather  than  repression.  When  one's  faculties  are 
busy  in  expression  there  is  no  need  for  repression, 
providing  Self-control  is  there  to  at  once  arrest  any 
action  that  approaches  the  destructive.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  foregoing  to  sterile  prohibition  is  ob- 
vious and  further  comment  is  unnecessary. 


68 


Chapter  VIII. 
Prohibition  and  the  Scripture 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  faith,  and  a  book  of  doctrine, 
and  a  book  of  morals,  and  a  book  of  religion,  of  special 
revelation  from  God;  but  it  is  also  a  book  which  teaches 
man  his  own  individual  responsibility,  his  own  dignity, 
and  his  equality  with  his  fellow-man. — [Daniel  Webster. 

There  is  little  in  the  Holy  Bible  to  embolden 
prohibitionists.  Their  time  and  effort  were  better 
spent  studying  the  Book  of  Books  than  inventing 
new  heresies  or  doctrines  contrary  to  the  Great  Law. 
The  prohibitionist's  iridescent  dream  of  removing 
temptation  from  mortal  man  has  no  foundation  in 
Scripture.  To  the  reverse,  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tions temptations  are  distinctly  recognized  as  a  part 
of  man's  estate.  To  those  who  intentionally  for 
profit  or  otherwise  set  themselves  up  as  superior  to 
the  Creator  and  His  laws,  theirs  is  the  responsibil- 
ity, and  to  them  such  a  minor  work  as  this  volume 
can  have  little  of  interest.  However,  to  the  great 
numbers  religiously  inclined  whose  fairness  and 
sound  judgment  have  been  lulled  to  sleep  by  the 
"song  of  the  siren"  this  special  chapter  is  dedicated. 

There  is  the  faintest  hope  that  some  church 
leaders  after  reading  this  chapter  and  further  re- 
flecting upon  His  teachings  may  become  a  little  more 
tolerant  and  less  vituperative — possibly  catch  a 
glimmer  of  the  difference  between  Christianity  and 
mere  churchanity.  The  manner  in  which  some  of 
our  good  church  people  have  jumped  at  Utopian 

69 


dreams  of  a  certain  organization  with  headquarters 
at  Westerville  O,  and  the  financial  and  moral  sup- 
port they  have  given  that  league  has  not  greatly  popu- 
larized the  Christian  spirit  among  ''poor  sinners" 
whom  the  church  is  presumably  aiming  to  reach. 
When  Christian  people  become  abusive  in  language 
and  action  and  themselves  set  an  example  of  intoler- 
ance, one  reason  is  seen  why  church  pews  these  days 
are  not  always  occupied  on  the  Sabbath. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  elimination  of  tempta- 
tion to  which  principle  prohibitionists  are  committed 
with  reference  to  intoxicants.  As  explained  in 
Chapter  V  of  this  work,  God  did  not  remove  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  from  the  garden  of 
Eden,  which  temptation  was  too  strong  for  Adam  to 
resist.  When  Jesus  came  to  earth  "to  save  man 
from  his  lost  estate,"  He  did  not  teach  the  ejection 
of  temptation.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  He  said 
to  His  disciples:  "But  I  say  unto  you,  that  you  re- 
sist not  evil."  This  quotation  has  been  variously 
interpreted,  and  unfortunately  by  some  to  mean  that 
Jesus  advised  the  disciples  to  yield  themselves  to 
evil.  A  fairer  interpretation  is  to  consider  the  en- 
tire sermon  as  instructions  to  His  chosen  representa- 
tives. As  a  climax  He  points  out  that  if  they  will 
but  follow  His  instructions  they  will  have  no  time  to 
bother  with  evil.  That  is,  if  one  is  busy  living  a  life 
along  constructive  lines,  the  evil  will  take  care  of 
itself.  But  however  interpreted,  it  is  obvious  that 
Jesus  was  not  urging  His  disciples  to  spend  their 
time  and  energy  chasing  temptation  from  the  face 
of  tne  earth. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Jesus  himself  was  sorely 
tempted.  We  read  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  according  to  Saint  Matthew  of  his  fasting 

70 


in  the  wilderness  for  forty  days  and  being  tempted 
of  the  devil  to  turn  stones  to  bread  and  when  taken 
to  the  exceeding  high  mountain  and  shown  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  and  their  glories  was  tempted  to 
rule  over  them. 

Again,  Chapter  1  Epistle  of  James  we  read: 
"James  a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  scattered 
abroad,  greeting.  My  brethen,  count  it  all  joy  when 
ye  fall  into  divers  temptations.  Knowing  this  that 
the  trying  of  your  faith  worketh  patience."  That  is, 
the  tribes  instead  of  being  counseled  to  avoid  temp- 
tation were  definitely  advised  to  accept  such  with 
joy  since  it  gave  them  an  opportunity  to  prove  their 
faith  and  practice  self-control. 

Further  on  in  the  same  chapter  is  the  following 
illuminating  passage:  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  en- 
dureth  temptation,  for  when  he  is  tried,  he  shall  re- 
ceive the  crown  of  life  ....  But  every  man 
is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lust 
and  enticed.  Then  when  lust  hath  conceived,  it 
bringeth  forth  sin,  and  sin  when  it  is  finished,  bring- 
eth  forth  death.  "Do  not  err  my  beloved  brethren." 
Thus  is  attention  drawn  to  temptation  not  as  a  curse 
but  as  an  opportunity  "and  do  not  err  my  brethren." 
Note  the  choice  given  the  brethren  and  the  responsi- 
bility resting  with  them.  There  is  no  thought  of  re- 
moving temptation. 

In  the  first  Epistle  of  Peter  an  apostle  of  Jesus, 
wherein  he  speaks  of  the  manifold  spiritual  graces 
of  God  we  read:  "Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice, 
though  now  for  a  season  if  need  be,  ye  are  in  heavi- 
ness through  manifold  temptations:  That  the  trial 
of  your  faith  being  much  more  precious  than  of  gold 
that  perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire  might  be 

71 


found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  ap- 
pearing of  Jesus  Christ."  Here,  too,  is  temptation 
made  the  occasion  of  rejoicing,  "more  precious  than 
of  gold  that  perisheth,"  to  the  end  that  the  "strang- 
ers scattered  through  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia, 
Asia  and  Bithynia"  may  keep  the  faith  and  prove 
the  blessings  of  self-control  over  self-indulgence. 

The  first  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians  in 
Chapter  X  records  these  significant  words:  "Where- 
fore let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed 
lest  he  fall.  There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you 
but  such  as  is  common  to  man :  But  God  is  faithful 
v^ho  v^ill  not  suffer  you  to  be  tempted  above  that  ye 
are  able;  but  will  with  the  temptation  also  make  a 
way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it."  At- 
tention is  here  called  to  the  responsibility  on  man, 
"take  heed  lest  he  fall."  Also  to  the  fact  that  temp- 
tations are  common  to  man,  as  well  as  the  further 
inspiring  truth  that  with  the  temptation  is  provided 
a  way  of  escape.  There  is  not  the  faintest  sugges- 
tion that  temptation  be  destroyed,  but  on  the  con- 
trary it  is  stated  that  with  the  temptation  is  a  way  of 
escape.  Every  normal  minded  person  who  has 
reached  the  age  of  accountability  has  known  in  his 
own  heart  to  this  day  that  there  is  a  way  to  escape 
any  and  all  temptation.  It  is  the  way  of  faith  and 
self-control  as  explained  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

There  are  plenty  of  other  references  to  which 
we  might  refer  as  establishing  the  point  that  temp- 
tations are  common  to  man.  It  would  seem  unneces- 
sary to  go  farther  in  convincing  the  reader  that 
temptation  is  a  part  of  the  Creator's  working  plan, 
that  it  appeared  with  Adam,  confronted  Jesus  and 
has  remained  with  mankind  to  the  present  day. 
Further,  that  we  are  no  more  fitted  to  change  His 

72 


plan  of  using  temptation  for  man's  development  and 
"proving  the  faith"  than  we  are  to  do  a  better 
week's  work  than  did  He  as  recorded  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  Hence  so  far  as  the  Scripture 
is  concerned,  the  prohibition  panacea  of  uprooting 
temptation  and  destroying  it  root  and  branch  as  re- 
gards intoxicants,  would  require  a  new  version  of  the 
Holy  Writ  to  comply  with  America's  18th  amend- 
ment and  Volstead  Act. 

Nor  can  the  alibi  be  entered  that  intoxicants 
are  a  new  temptation  that  have  come  since  Bible 
times  with  the  progress  of  man  and  the  new  condi- 
tions. Back  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  Genesis  we  read: 
"And  Noah  began  to  be  a  husbandman  and  planted 
a  vineyard.  And  he  drank  of  the  wine  and  was 
drunken." 

Indeed,  the  temperate  use  of  wine  appears  to 
have  been  counted  a  blessing.  In  Chapter  104  of 
the  Psalms,  the  meditation  upon  the  mighty  power 
and  wonderful  providence  of  God  records:  "He 
watereth  the  hills  from  His  chambers.  ...  He 
causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle  and  herb  for 

the    service    of   man And    wine    that 

maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man,  and  oil  to  make  his 
face  to  shine  and  bread  which  strengtheneth  his 
heart."  Ecclesiastes  X,  19  says:  "A  feast  is  made  for 
laughter  and  wine  maketh  merry."  The  first  Epistle 
of  Paul  the  apostle  to  Timothy  mentions:  "Drink  no 
longer  water  but  use  a  little  wine  for  thy  stomach's 
sake  and  thine  often  infirmities."  Note  the  quali- 
fying word  "  little;"  that  is,  use  it,  but  do  not  abuse 
it. 

Then  who  is  not  familiar  with  the  story  record- 
ed in  the  second  chapter  of  Saint  John,  of  Christ 
turning  water  into  wine  at  the  marriage  feast  in 

73 


Cana  of  Galilee?  That  it  would  hardly  pass  muster 
of  the  Volstead  ^  of  1%  alcoholic  content,  we  read 
in  the  same  chapter:  ''When  the  ruler  of  the  feast 
had  tasted  the  water  that  was  made  wine,  and  knew 
not  whence  it  was,  the  governor  of  the  feast  called 
the  bridegroom.  And  said  unto  him.  Every  man 
at  the  beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine ;  and  when 
men  have  well  drunk,  then  that  which  is  worse; 
but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now."  A  brief 
investigation  on  the  part  of  a  doubtful  reader  will 
give  ample  evidence  that  real  intoxicants  that  intox- 
icated were  known  back  in  the  days  of  Noah  and 
since.  Therefore  strong  drink  is  no  new  device  of 
Satan  to  tempt  mankind. 

Lest  some  readers  become  fearful  that  this 
chapter  is  aiming  to  justify  drunkenness  and  evil 
through  God's  Holy  Word,  let  us  hasten  to  take 
stock  of  our  whereabouts.  To  this  point  the  chapter 
has  intended  to  bring  out  the  truth  of  three  things: 

1,  God's  plan  of  distinctly  providing,  and  allowing 
to  continue,  temptation  in  various  forms  to  mankind. 

2,  That  there  is  a  right  and  proper  use  of  so-called 
intoxicants.  3,  That  alcoholic  beverages  are  no  new 
device  of  Satan  to  lead  erring  man  astray.  If  there 
remains  any  doubt  on  these  points  the  reader  is 
urged  to  peruse  the  original  Records  more  at  length 
than  this  brief  chapter  makes  possible. 

We  now  come  to  an  equally  potent  fact.  From 
cover  to  cover  the  Great  Book  is  rich  with  references 
to  the  misuse  of  intoxicants  and  drunkenness.  Only 
three  or  four  typical  references  will  be  given;  there 
are  many  more,  Proverbs  XX  say:  "Wine  is  a  mock- 
er, strong  drink  is  raging  and  whosoever  is  deceived 
thereby  is  not  wise."  Isaiah  XXVIII :  ''But  they  also 
have  erred  through  wine  and  through  strong  drink 

74 


and  are  out  of  the  way;  the  priest  and  the  prophet 
have  erred  through  strong  drink,  they  are  swallowed 
up  of  wine,  they  are  out  of  the  way  through  strong 
drink;  they  err  in  vision,  they  stumble  in  judgment.'* 
Isaiah  LVI:  "Yea  they  are  greedy  dogs  which  can 

never  have  enough Come  ye  say  I  will 

fetch  wine  and  we  will  fill  ourselves  with  strong 
drink  and  tomorrow  shall  be  as  this  day  and  much 
more  abundant/'  In  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Gala- 
tians.  Chapter  V:  *'Now  the  works  of  the  flesh  are 
manifest  which  are  these:  Adultery,  fornication, 
uncleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry,  witchcraft, 
hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath,  strife,  heresies, 
envyings,  murders,  drunkenness  and  such  like  of  the 
which  I  tell  you  before  as  I  have  also  told  you  in 
times  past,  that  they  which  do  such  things  shall  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  the  fruit  of  the 
spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  meekness,  long  suffering, 
goodness,  faith,  temperance:  against  such  there  is 
no  law." 

In  these  quotations  as  elsewhere  in  the  Bible 
the  evils  pointed  out  are  excesses,  overindulgence 
and  drunkenness.  'They  err  in  vision  and  judg- 
ment." That  is,  the  individual  erred  in  his  responsi- 
bility. There  is  no  attack  made  upon,  nor  a  re- 
sponsibility given,  the  temptation  itself.  Man  and 
not  the  intoxicant  is  held  accountable.  Then 
"Against  love,  joy  ....  and  temperance, 
there  is  no  law."  Temperance,  of  course,  is  not  total 
abstinence.  The  law  of  God  appears  to  look  with 
favor  upon  temperance  whereas  prohibition  does 
not.  Until  the  days  of  the  18th  amendment,  indeed 
if  not  now,  the  vast  majority  of  loyal  American  citi- 
zens would  say:  "Temperance  in  all  things,  every- 
where and  always  is  a  virtue."   Many  might  venture 

75 


still  further  and  proclaim:  "Total  abstinence  in  all 
things  (as  in  eating)  is  suicidal  and  hence  may  or 
may  not  be  a  virtue.  Why  experiment  with  the 
doubtful  when  the  certain  is  as  obtainable.  In  other 
words,  let  us  make  our  goal  temperance  and  not 
total  abstinence." 

Until  the  days  of  the  18th  amendment  an  in- 
dividual who  kept  inviolate  the  ten  commandments, 
given  by  God  to  the  children  of  Israel  and  later  re- 
newed by  Jesus,  was  considered  a  good  citizen,  even 
good  enough  for  an  American  citizen.  Now  he  isn't 
unless  he  also  keeps  inviolate  the  11th  command- 
ment of  prohibition,  namely — "thou  shalt  not  be 
tempted  of  strong  drink."  This  apparent  oversight 
of  the  Creator  is  surprising  for  He  knew  all  about 
the  harm  that  might  follow  the  misuse  of  intoxi- 
cants. Knowing  it.  He  did  not  even  add  the  more 
temperate  command,  "thou  shalt  not  drink  intoxi- 
cating beverages."  Such  a  command  would  have 
been  more  moderate  because  it  did  not  forbid  the 
manufacture,  sale  or  transportation,  and  thus  al- 
lowed the  temptation  to  remain. 

But  more  amazing  still  is  it  that  He  (Psalm 
104)  "causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle  and 
herb  for  the  service  of  man  ....  and  wine 
that  maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man."  Until  the  18th 
amendment  and  the  Volstead  Act  vast  numbers  of 
mankind  really  believed  the  Omniscience  of  God 
and  did  not  question  His  wisdom  in  establishing  nat- 
ural laws  that  turned  fruit  juices  so  easily  into  bev- 
erages beyond  i  of  1%  alcoholic  content.  Is  it  not  a 
fair  question  to  ask  prohibitionists  if  their  dogma 
does  not  make  a  criminal  of  Nature  and  Nature's 
God? 

76 


The  Holy  Bible  has  interesting  things  to  say 
about  false  prophets  and  "false  teachers  among  you 
who  shall  bring  in  damnable  heresies."  The  reading 
of  Peter  and  Deuteronomy  XIII  will  do  no  Chris- 
tian soul  harm  and  might  benefit  prohibitionists.  The 
passage  in  Isaiah  V :  "Woe  unto  them  that  are  wise 
in  their  own  eyes  and  prudent  in  their  own  sight" 
might  have  significance  as  well  as  the  ending  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  mount:  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not 
judged." 

The  intent  of  this  chapter,  as  already  mentioned, 
is  to  direct  the  attention  of  sincere  and  worthy 
Americans,  many  of  whom  are  endeavoring  to  keep 
His  commandments,  to  underlying  truths  which  may 
have  thus  far  escaped  them.  The  reader,  himself, 
after  due  thought  and  such  further  investigation  as 
he  may  choose  to  make,  can  decide  whether  the 
principle  of  prohibition  and  temptation  removal  is 
in  accord  with  God's  working  plan  for  mankind. 


77 


Chapter  IX. 
The  Legal  Side  of  Prohibition 

Extreme  law,  extreme  injustice. — [Cicero. 

A  government  that  sows  to  the  wind,  by  itself  as- 
suming the  responsibilities,  initiative  and  develop- 
ment that  rightly  belong  to  the  individual,  must 
sooner  or  later  reap  the  whirlwind  of  disappearing  in- 
dividual vital  power  and  national  destruction.  No 
government,  even  for  the  sake  of  making  its  subjects 
more  pliant  and  docile  to  its  mandates,  can  ever  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  civilization  by  obstructing  individ- 
ual effort  and  self-development.  This  is  inevitable, 
for  the  whole  can  be  no  greater  than  the  sum  of  its 
parts.  If  the  parts  are  stunted  and  dwarfed,  no  recog- 
nized system  of  mathematics  can  elevate  the  aggre- 
gate above  mediocrity. 

Progress  for  organized  society  is  not  in  the  direc- 
tion of  dwarfing  the  individual  but  rather  through  en- 
lightenment, instruction  and  education  assist  him  in 
individual  growth  and  expansion.  Thus  through  the 
unfoldment  and  enlargement  of  the  individual  parts 
does  society  in  the  aggregate  reach  forward  to  ever 
extending  totals.  From  this  it  is  obvious  that  a  so- 
ciety, or  a  government,  that  itself  assumes  the  obliga- 
tions of  choice,  conscience,  reason  and  will  power,  in- 
exorably leads  to  advancing  degeneracy  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Furthermore,  a  society  or  a  government  can 
no  more  evade  the  penalties  of  its  false  philosophy 
than  can  an  individual  the  final  punishment  of  his 
own  self-indulgence. 

78 


These  are  truths  which  America  needs  to  ponder 
well,  if  "the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the 
brave"  is  not  to  eventually  degenerate  into  "a  land  of 
bondage  and  home  of  human  automatons."  The  epi- 
fflemic  of  rushing  to  local,  state  and  national  interfer- 
/ence  by  law  in  matters  that  primarily  concern  the 
individual  is  fraught  with  grgat^anger.  It  is  to  in- 
dividual mentality  and  morality  what  the  great  white 
plague  of  tuberculosis  is  to  material  man.  Both  are 
insidiously  destructive.  That  America  is  not  alone  in 
courting  the  brazen  idol  of  centralized  authority  and 
control  as  a  panacea  for  evil  tendencies  of  mankind  in 
no  degree  relieves  her  of  the  responsibilities  and  the 
obligations  to  civilization.  It  is  no  credit  to  America, 
favored  with  such  marked  opportunities  and  from 
whom  so  much  was  expected,  to  be  found  on  the  same 
road  with  the  mailed  fist  of  German  bureaucracy  or 
with  the  bolshevism  of  Russia. 

This  comparison  is  intentionally  inserted  to  shock 
the  American  public  into  a  realization  of  the  road  it 
has  been  following  in  very  recent  years.  Governmenf^ 
policies  of  trust  busting  instead  of  regulation,  govern- 
ment ownership  and  direction  of  public  utilities  in- 
stead of  individual  initiative  in  service  and  function- 
ing, the  socialistic  dictum  of  government  resposibil- 
ity  for  morals  and  habits  of  its  subjects  instead  of 
individual  accountability  and  personal  responsibility^ 
— ^these  are  not  so  far  removed  from  bureaucracy, 
socialism,  bolshevism.  Any  difference  is  more  of  de- 
gree than  principle.  In  both  cases  the  fundamental 
error  is  the  assumption  by  centralized  authority  of 
duties,  obligations  and  efforts  which  the  individual 
himself  requires  for  development. 

Such  are  the  lines  of  thought  to  which  this  chap- 
ter would  direct  the  reader  rather  than  a  dissertation 
on  mooted  legal  phraseology,  infringements  or  incon- 

79 


sistencies.  It  is  a  matter  of  principles  and  not  prop- 
aganda. It  will  be  noted,  of  course,  that  the  empha- 
sis instead  of  being  placed  upon  the  pleasures  or 
"rights"  of  an  individual  is  upon  the  advancement  of 
organized  society  itself.  That  is,  the  goal  sought  is 
the  J^ogress  p1  _  cmJization,_  The  individual  Ts  con- 
cerned only  in  so  far  as  the  inevitable  part  he  must 
play  in  accordance  with  natural  laws. 

But  the  fact  of  profound  significance  is  that  civ- 
ilization gets  its  initial  impulse  from  the  individual. 
As  well  attempt  to  render  Shakespeare's  tragedy  of 
Hamlet  with  Hamlet  omitted  as  to  advance  civiliza- 
tion without  the  individual.  The  18th  amendment  and 
Volstead  Act  follow  the  iridescent  rainbow  of  illu- 
sion that  society  or  government  itself  impels  the  in- 
dividual. This  doctrine  assumes  that  organized  so-  -^ 
ciety  has  morality,  chastity,  virtue  and  purity  not 
possessed  by  the  individuals  of  which  that  society 
is  composed.  The  tragedy  is  the  delusion  of  appro- 
priating in  name  that  which  is  not  possessed  in  fact 
— a  modernized  version  of  Hamlet  without  Hamlet. 
In  the  fullness  of  time  history  may  repeat  itself  by 
Nature  again  demonstrating  that  morality  and  virtue 
are  subjects  of  individual  development  and  unfold- 
ment  from  within  rather  than  for  legislative  force 
from  without;  that  the  mission  of  law  is  to  cherish, 
nourish  and  encourage  this  individual  development 
instead  of  antagonizing  and  thwarting  it.  A  civiliza- 
tion that  adopts  the  latter  hostile  course  thereby 
closes  the  door  of  progress  against  itself. 

Thus  comes  the  importance  of  the  legal  side  of 
prohibition — not  alone  in  behalf  of  individual  rights 
but  also  to  the  advantage  of  organized  society. 
Analysis  discloses  that  from  this  broad  and  most 
altruistic  viewpoint  of  a  better  civilization,  law  as 

80 


such  cannot  evade  certain  duties,  obligations  and  unal- 
terable relations  to  the  individual,  without  suffering 
the  consequences.  As  these  were  recognized  or 
ignored  in  past  ages  has  peace  prevailed  or  war 
reigned,  and  the  cause  of  civilization  advanced  or 
retarded.  It  is  the  age  long  struggle  between  indi- 
vidual liberty  and  centralized  authority. 

The  striking  fact  is  that  the  individual  inher- 
ently struggles  for  those  things  which  will  advance  civil- 
ization while  civilization  itself  lets  loose  forces  to  de- 
feat that  worthy  end.  Indeed,  it  is  nearly  if  not  quite 
true  that  organized  society  is  improving  not  through 
its  own  activities  but  in  spite  of  them.  The  transcend- 
ing possibilities  of  progress,  if  organized  society 
would  work  with  and  through  the  Divinely  endowed 
soul  attributes  of  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will 
power  in  each  normal  individual,  are  enough  to 
thrill  and  inspire  patriotic  and  God-fearing  men 
everywhere.  Instead,  we  witness,  for  one  reason 
or  another  men  busily  engaged  in  erecting  legal  bar- 
riers to  individual  development  through  such  re- 
pressive measures  as  prohibition  and  proposed  re- 
moval of  temptation.  Why,  oh  why,  can  we  not  profit 
by  the  history  of  what  tyranny  of  authority  has 
meant  to  civilization  from  the  ancient  days  of  Egypt, 
Rome  and  Greece,  on  through  the  centuries  to  the 
present  hour! 

Back  in  1858  John  Stuart  Mill  penned  that  im- 
mortal essay  on  Liberty.    Therein  we  read : 

"Society  can  and  does  execute  its  own  man- 
dates; and  if  it  issues  wrong  mandates  instead  of 
right,  or  any  mandates  at  all  in  things  with  which 
it  ought  not  to  meddle,  it  practices  a  social  tyranny 
more  formidable  than  many  kinds  of  political  op- 
pression, since,  though  not  usually  upheld  by  such 

81 


extreme  penalties,  it  leaves  fewer  means  of  escape, 
penetrating  much  more  deeply  into  the  details  of 
life,  and  enslaving  the  soul  itself  ....  There 
is  a  limit  to  the  legitimate  interference  of  collective 
opinion  with  individual  independence;  and  to  find 
that  limit,  and  maintain  it  against  encroachment  is 
as  indispensable  to  a  good  condition  of  human  af- 
fairs, as  protection  against  political  despotism." 

As  to  what  was  meant  by  individual  liberty  we 
read  farther  along: 

"It  comprises  first  the  inward  domain  of  consciousness; 
demanding  liberty  of  conscience,  in  the  most  comprehensive 
sense;  liberty  of  thought  and  feeling;  absolute  freedom  of 
opinion  and  sentiment  on  all  subjects,  practical  or  speculative, 

scientific,  moral,  or  theological Secondly,  the  principle 

requires  liberty  of  tastes  and  pursuits;  of  framing  the  plan  of 
our  life,  subject  to  such  consequences  as  may  follow  without 
impediment  from  our  fellow  creatures,  so  long  as  what  we  do 
does  not  harm  them  even  though  they  should  think  our  conduct 

foolish,  perverse,  or  wrong No  society  in  which 

these  liberties  are  not,  on  the  whole,  respected,  is  free,  what- 
ever may  be  its  form  of  government;  and  none  is  completely 
free  in  which  they  do  not  exist  absolute  and  unqualified.  The 
only  freedom  which  deserves  the  name,  is  that  of  pursuing  our 
own  good  in  our  own  way,  so  long  as  we  do  not  attempt  to  de- 
prive others  of  theirs,  or  impede  their  efforts  to  obtain  it. 
Mankind  are  gi'eater  gainers  by  suffering  each  other  to  live 
as  seems  good  to  themselves,  than  by  compelling  each  to  live 
as  seems  good  to  the  rest." 

Again  we  read: 

"The  likings  and  dislikings  of  society,  or  of  some  powerful 
portion  of  it,  are  thus  the  main  thing  which  has  practically  de- 
termined the  rules  laid  down  for  general  observance,  under  the 
penalties  of  law  or  opinion.  And  in  general,  those  who  have 
been  in  advance  of  society  in  thought  and  feeling,  have  left 
this  condition  of  things  unassailed  in  principle,  however  they 
may  have  come  into  conflict  with  it  in  some  of  its  details.  They 
have  occupied  themselves  rather  in  inquiring  what  things  so- 
ciety ought  to  like  or  dislike,  than  in  questioning  whether  its 
likings  or  dislikings  should  be  a  law  to  individuals.  They  pre- 
ferred endeavoring  to  alter  the  feelings  of  mankind  on  the 
particular  points  on  which  they  were  themselves  heretical, 
rather  than  make  common  cause  in  defense  of  freedom,  with 
heretics  generally." 

82 


Such  are  the  words  of  a  deep  thinker  70  years 
before  the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act.     The 
apphcation    to    prohibition    is    so    apparent    further 
comment  is  unnecessary.     In  fact,  the  entire  essay 
might  well  be  substituted  for  the  present  chapter  on 
the  legal  side  of  prohibition.  His  penetrating  analy-'  ; 
sis  shows  how  society  cannot  invade  human  liberties 
of  individual  expression  and  development  without 
itself  thereby  suffering  the  destructive  consequences.  ] 
Space  forbids  detailed  review,  except  a  few  scintiK 
lating  conclusions,  fully  backed  up  by  cold  logic  in 
the  essay  itself. 

"But  the  peculiar  evil  of  silencing  the  expression  of  an 
opinion  is,  that  it  is  robbing  the  human  race,  posterity  as  well 
as  the  existing  generation Silencing  of  discus- 
sion is  an  assumption  of  infallibility The  hu- 
man faculties  of  preception,  judgment,  discriminative  feeling, 
mental  activity,  and  even  moral  preference,  are  exercised  only 

in  making  a   choice He  who   lets  the  world,   or 

his  own  portion  of  it,  choose  his  plan  of  life  for  him,  has  no 
need  of  any  faculty  than  the  ape-like  one  of  imitation  .  .  . 
Strong  impulses  are  but  another  name  for  energy.  Energy 
may  be  turned  to  bad  uses;  but  more  good  may  always  be 
made  of  an  energetic  nature,  than  of  an  indolent  and  impas- 
sive one.  The  same  strong  susceptibilities  which  make  the 
personal  impulses  vivid  and  powerful,  are  also  the  source 
from  whence  are  generated  the  most  passionate  virtue,  and 
the  sternest  self-control.  It  is  through  the  cultivation  of  these, 
that  society  both  does  its  duty  and  protects  its  interests.  A 
person  whose  desires  and  impulses  are  his  own  is  said  to  have 
a  character.  One  whose  desires  and  impulses  are  not  his  own 
has  no  character,  no  more  than  a  steam  engine  has  a  character. 

....  "Persons  of  genius  are,  in  small  minority 
but  in  order  to  have  them,  it  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  soil 
in  which  they  grow.  Genius  can  only  breathe  freely  in  an  at- 
mosphere   of   freedom There    is   no    reason    that 

all  human  existences  should  be  constructed  on  some   one,  or 

some    small   number    of   patterns Human    beings 

are  not  like  sheep;  and  even  sheep  are  not  undistinguishably 
alike Different  persons  require  different  condi- 
tions for  their  spiritual   development The   same 

things  which  are  helps  to  one  person  towards  the  cultivation 

of  his  higher  nature,  are  hindrances  to  another 

In  proportion  to  the  development  of  his  individuality,  each 
person  becomes  more  valuable  to  himself,  and  is  therefore 
capable  of  being  more  valuable  to  others What- 

83 


ever  crushes  individuality  is  despotism,  by  whatever  name  it 
may  be  called,  and  whether  it  professes  to  be  enforcing  the 

will  of  God  or  the  injunctions  of  men But  the 

strongest  of  all  the  arguments  against  the  interference  of  the 
public  with  purely  personal  conduct,  is  that  when  it  does  inter- 
fere, the  odds  are  that  it  interferes  wrongly,  and  in  the  wrong 
place." 

Again,  let  readers  remember  that  the  plea  for 
individual  liberty,  development  and  unf  oldment  is  in 
behalf  of  a  better  civilization,  which  the  Almighty 
and  not  man  decreed  can  come  only  through  the  in- 
dividual. Hence  we  see  the  necessity  of  that  char- 
acter of  laws  which  give  individuality  an  opportu- 
nity to  unfold  if  society  itself  is  to  benefit.  Laws  of 
however  good  intent  or  in  the  name  of  whatever 
cause,  that  check,  repress  or  prevent  the  exercise  of 
individual  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will  power, 
are  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  bondage  to  man,  and 
are  unavoidably  retroactive  upon  that  society  which 
issued  and  enforced  those  mandates.  America's 
marvelous  forward  strides  since  the  signing  of  the 
.Constitution  and  the  subsequent  amendments,  ex- 
cepting the  18th,  are  largely  the  result  of  the  wise 
legislation  therein  which  cherished  and  protected 
the^  rights  of  an  individual  to  develop  through  ex- 
ercise of  his  normal  tastes,  desires  and  propensities, 
holding  him  accountable  that  in  their  exercise  he  did 
not  interfere  with  others  enjoying  the  same  in  their 
own  right.  The  pronounced  departure  from  this 
principle  by  the  18th  amendment  is  the  reason  for 
this  chapter  on  the  legal_relation  between  organized 
society.and  the  individuaj^ 

Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  there  is  no 
attack  upon  enforcing  law  whether  it  be  good  or 
bad.  Disrespect  of  law  is  progressively  destructive 
to  both  society  and  the  individual.  This  was  master- 
fully presented  by  Attorney  General  Dougherty  in 

84 


an  address  to  the  1921  annual  convention  of  the 
American  Bar  Association  at  Cincinnati.  In  part 
the  press  quoted  him  as  saying: 

"From  the  standpoint  of  government  the  only  sound  view 
is  that  of  law  enforcement.  Whatever  differences  of  opinion 
exist  in  the  views  as  to  the  wisdom  of  some  of  these  laws 
can  be  of  no  concern  to  the  agencies  for  law  enforcement. 
The  executive  department  cannot  make  the  laws.  It  is  equally 
true  that  it  cannot  nullify  laws.  To  refuse  or  to  neglect  to 
enforce  a  valid  enactment  of  the  legislative  department  of 
government,  or  to  enforce  it  mechanically  or  half-heartedly  or 
to  wink  at  its  violation,  is  without  justification  on  any  sound 
theory  of  government.  Those  who  ask  it  or  expect  it  not  only 
contribute  to  lawlessness  but  destroy  the  basis  upon  which 
their  own  security  rests.  Our  safety  and  happiness  lies  in 
obedience  to  law  by  every  man,  woman  and  child  within  the 
domain  of  our  Republic,  and  no  one  can  undermine  respect  for 
law  without  being,  to  that  extent,  an  enemy  to  law  and  or- 
derly government.  As  a  citizen  cannot  choose  what  laws  he 
will  obey,  so,  likewise,  those  charged  with  law  enforcement 
cannot  choose  what  laws  they  will  enforce.  If  laws  are  ob- 
noxious to  the  people  it  is  in  their  province  to  repeal  them. 
Until  they  are  repealed  they  must  be  observed  and  enforced 
without  fear  or  favor." 

Still  more  to  the  point  so  far  as  the  18th  amend- 
ment and  Volstead  law  are  concerned  is  the  following 
resolution  adopted  by  the  judicial  section  at  the 
same  American  Bar  Convention. 

"Reverence  for  law  and  enforcement  of  law  depend  main- 
ly upon  the  ideals  and  customs  of  those  who  occupy  the  vant- 
age ground  of  life  in  business  and  society.  The  people  of  the 
United  States,  by  solemn  constitutional  and  statutory  enact- 
ment, have  undertaken  to  suppress  the  age-long  evil  of  the 
liquor  traffic.  When,  for  the  gratification  of  their  appetites, 
or  the  promotion  of  their  interests,  lawyers,  bankers,  great 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  and  social  leaders,  both  men  and 
women,  disobey  and  scoff  at  this  law,  or  any  other  law,  they 
are  aiding  the  cause  of  anarchy  and  promoting  mob  violence, 
robbery  and  homicide,  they  are  sowing  dragon's  teeth,  and 
they  need  not  be  surprised  when  they  find  that  no  judicial  or 
police  authority  can  save  our  country  or  humanity  from  reap- 
ing the  harvest." 

This  chapter  in  no  way  questions  the  soundness 
of  the  above  logic  nor  does  it  assault  the  principles 
therein  stated.     The  quotations  are  given  for  the 

85 


double  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  supremacy  of 
law  and  also  the  avenue  of  escape  through  repeal, 
or  modification.  Incidentally,  it  should  prove  a 
forceful  reminder  of  the  dangers  in  hasty,  ill  con- 
sidered and  destructive  legislation,  especially  when 
the  mandates  are  placed  in  the  fundamental  law  of 
a  nation.  As  so  well  expressed  by  James  Beck,  Solic- 
itor General  of  the  United  States,  at  the  above  men- 
tioned Bar  convention: 

"To  paraphrase  the  saying  of  the  Master —  'the  laws  were 
made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the  laws.'  If  the  science  of  the 
law  ignores  the  study  of  human  nature  and  attempts  to  con- 
form man  to  the  lav/s,  rather  than  the  laws  to  man,  then  its 
development  is  a  very  partial  and  imperfect  one." 

It  is  this  very  partiality,  imperfection  and  abso- 
lute defiance  of  the  Almighty,  as  evidenced  in  pro- 
hibition, which  this  chapter  and  the  entire  work 
challenges  without  reserve.  It  would  call  to  account 
an  organized  society  that  thus  abuses  the  supremacy 
and  nobility  of  law.  America  may  study  with  profit 
the  parable  of  the  talents.  In  behalf  of  a  higher 
civilization  much  has  been  given  America.  But  dis- 
respect of  human  liberties,  duties  and  responsibil- 
ities in  the  name  of  laws  that  are  repressive  to  in- 
dividual development  is  a  scant  account  of  our 
stewardship. 

Little  is  the  wonder  that  this  same  Nature-defy- 
ing society  already  finds  itself  being  drawn  into  the 
vortex  of  a  whirlwind  of  lawlessness.  Distraught 
appeals  on  the  majesty  of  the  law  are  made  by  pro- 
hibition enforcement  officials,  by  the  attorney  gen- 
eral, by  the  press,  by  the  nation's  Chief  Executive, 
by  guilty  society  itself.  Even  the  august  judiciary 
deems  it  necessary  to  warn  "lawyers,  bankers,  great 
merchants  and  manufacturers  and  social  leaders, 
both  men  and  women,"  that  they  are  "aiding  the 

86 


cause  of  anarchy."  The  diagram  on  how  prohibition 
breeds  lawlessness,  used  as  a  frontispiece  in  this  vol- 
ume, tells  an  interesting  and  pointed  story. 

These  notable  men  and  women  previous  to  the 
18th  amendment  were  counted  as  loyal,  law-abiding 
citizens.  Now  they  are  among  the  many  thousands 
who  are  under  criminal  indictment  of  violating  the 
prohibition  statutes  and  whose  cases  are  still  pend- 
ing, owing  to  the  abnormal  increase  of  revolt  against 
authority  and  the  consequent  inability  of  the  courts 
to  adjudicate  promptly.  This  only  includes  the  fed- 
eral courts;  add  to  it  the  avalanche  of  cases  in  lower 
courts  and  some  slight  idea  is  gained  of  why  we  are 
hearing  so  much  about  the  spirit  of  lawlessness.  Fin- 
ally, add  to  these  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  are 
violating  the  18th  amendment  or  aiding  and  abetting 
others  therein  and  who  have  not  been  arrested  there- 
for, and  we  get  a  glimmer  of  the  wholesale  lack  of 
reverence  for  this  particular  law. 

The  disconcerting  part  is  that  this  contempt  of 
the  prohibition  statutes  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  weak-minded  and  criminally-inclined.  Instead, 
it  is  notably  apparent  among  "bankers,  lawyers  and 
our  great  merchants  and  manufacturers."  Even  the 
skirts  of  the  judiciary  and  the  actual  officers  of  law 
enforcement  are  not  spotless.  It  is  common  knowl- 
edge that  respected  men  in  these  callings  are  not 
averse  to  something  stronger  than  ^  of  1%  and  are 
none  too  particular  about  ascertaining  whether  the 
stimulant  was  legally  acquired.  No  disrespect  to  the 
judiciary  nor  to  the  servants  of  the  law  is  here  in- 
tended, any  more  than  applies  to  bankers,  great 
merchants,  and  our  leading  men  and  women.  Yet  it 
does  show  beyond  controversy  that  lawlessness  can- 
not be  placed  wholly  at  the  door  of  bootleggers  and 

87 


rum  runners.  To  one  bootlegger  there  must  be  many 
who  patronize  him  and  wink  at  the  law.  The  prices 
charged  and  the  fortunes  being  amassed  through  il- 
licit handling  of  intoxicants  would  be  impossible 
without  catering  to  those  who  occupy  the  vantage 
ground  of  life,  in  business  and  society. 

These  leading  men  and  women  in  most  cases 
are  leaders  because  of  their  energy,  which  Mill  tells 
us  is  but  another  name  for  strong  impulses,  "through 
which  more  good  can  be  accomplished  than  through 
indolent  and  passive  natures."  Here  is  the  faintest 
suggestion,  not  a  stated  fact,  that  the  characteristics 
which  pushed  such  men  and  women  forward  areUot 
far  removed  from  those  that  lead  them  to  reason- 
able indulgence  in  liquors  that  may  have  been  ille- 
gally acquired  under  the  provisions  of  prohibition. 
If  true,  this  might  explain  how  the  18th  amendment 
is  making  so  many  crirninals^out^of  supposedly  worth 
WJiile  citizens. 

Certain  it  is  that  our  captains  of  industry  have 
marked  individuality  and  are  least  inclined  to  sur- 
render their  desires,  and  impulses  and  appetites  and 
allow  others  to  choose  their  plan  of  life.  They  are 
outstanding  individuals  because  they  developed 
faculties,  powers  and  capacities  which  prohibition 
would  revoke.  Perhaps  sufficient  time  has  not  yet 
elapsed  for  these  self-developed  men  and  women  to 
become  mere  cattle  and  meekly  submit  to  fanatical 
or  bigoted  illusions  and  to  autocratic  authority.  Per- 
haps they  will  eventually  and  perhaps  they  will  not. 
Perhaps  it  isn't  for  the  advancement  of  civilization 
that  they  did.  It  is  possible  that  the  world  may  yet 
sorely  need  men  and  women  of  strong  individuality, 
whose  individual  energy  and  initiative  will  lead  them 
to  blaze  new  trails  instead  of  tamely  following,  like 

88 


sheep,  the  beaten  paths  marked  out  for  them  by 
others. 

The  unfortunate  and  truly  alarming  thing  is  the 
present  violation  of  the  prohibition  law.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  most  vital  import  to  the  nation  whether  we 
should  continue  our  efforts  and  expense  to  further 
perfect  an  unbreakable  chain  of  legal  restrictions  by 
which  society  can  hold  these  "great  merchants  and 
manufacturers"  and  other  captains  of  industry  in 
subjection  or  whether  a  better  course  might  not  be 
for  society  to  modify  its  edict  which  is  causing  the 
trouble.  One  road  or  the  other  must  be  chosen,  and 
that  comparatively  soon,  if  our  whole  legal  fabric  is 
not  stripped  to  threads,  and  anarchy,  even  rebellion, 
invited.  America  can  no  more  exist  half  law-abid- 
ing and  half  lawless'tHairshe  could  exist  half  free 
and  half  slave  back  in  the  days  of  the  Civil  war. 

The  fervid  mission  of  this  volume  is  the  two- 
fold one  of  awaterniTg  the  public  to  that  fact,  and 
advancing  demonstrated  jtruths  of  Nature!  Vhich 
show  the  snare  and  the  delusion  in  prohibition,  as 
well  as  the  inevitably  destructive  principles  upon 
which  it  is  founded.  It  is  a  plea  for  evolution  that 
revolution  may  be  avoided.  It  is  an  entreaty  to  the 
intelligence  and  the  reasonable  judgment  of  a  demo- 
cratic people  not  to  depart  from  the  principles  in 
the  Constitution  of  their  nation,  for  which  countless 
thousands  have  fought  and  died — a  Constitution 
that  has  heretofore  drawn  a  sacred  circle  about  the 
individual  and  defended  the  inherent  attributes  of 
the  human  soul. 


89 


Chapter  X. 
Social,  Moral  and  Economic  Claims 

By  far  the  best  proof  is  experience. — [Bacon. 

Ere  this  the  reader  has  doubtlessly  observed 
that  this  volume  has  had  little  to  say  concerning 
the  prohibition  arguments  pro  and  con  usually  aired 
in  daily  conversation.  An  attempt  has  been  made 
to  go  beyond  these  and  deal  in  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  if  better  understood  would  leave  no 
room  for  argument  or  disagreement.  With  the  same 
unerring  certainty  that  a  banker  with  the  right  com- 
bination opens  his  vault,  can  one  with  the  unvarying 
laws  of  Nature  unlock  the  problems  of  prohibition 
or  any  other  issue  which  concerns  the  individual  and 
society.  The  "combination"  is  the  same  today  as  it 
was  100  years  ago  and  the  same  as  it  will  be  100 
years  hence.  Nature  is  both  methodical  and  depend- 
able. To  grasp  her  methods  and  laws  today  is  to 
know  them  tomorrow.  Hence  the  effort  in  this  work 
to  follow  her  teachings  rather  than  seek  diversion 
in  the  mere  opinions  and  arguments  of  vacillating 
man. 

Let  us  turn  then  to  the  alleged  foundation  upon 
which  prohibitionists  are  attempting  to  build,  name- 
ly, the  social,  moral  and  economic  advantages  in  en- 
forced abstinence.  An  entire  volume  could  be  given 
on  figures,  comparative  statistics  and  arguments  as 
to  whether  America  is  better  socially,  is  more  moral 
or  economically  more  sound  than  previous  to  the 

90 


18th  amendment  and  Volstead  act.  The  data  if 
given  without  bias  would  be  conflicting.  Different 
people  would  draw  different  conclusions  from  a 
complete  review  of  the  same  identical  statistics. 
That  is  what  the  masses  are  doing  today  and  is  what 
they  may  continue  to  do  so  long  as  the  evidence  is 
measured  by  fallible  man  instead  of  by  the  eternal 
principles  established  by  the  Almighty. 

Prohibitionists  seemed  confident  that  through  the 
18th  amendment  and  Volstead  act,  crime  and  death 
would  receive  a  great  body  blow.  Our  penal  and  cor- 
rective institutions  would  be  less  needed.  Officers  of 
law  would  have  less  to  do  and  our  courts  less  clogged 
with  criminal  cases.  They  produce  figures  to  prove 
those  blessings.  Yet  others  produce  an  equal  array  of 
statistics  showing  how  there  are  more  deaths,  more 
in  hospitals,  more  extension  of  jail  facilities,  more  of- 
ficers, more  congestion  in  courts  under  prohibition  than 
previous  to  the  18th  amendment.  They  challenge  pro- 
hibitionists to  prove  that  there  is  less  crime,  that  people 
are  any  happier  or  more  contented  now  than  then.  Im- 
posing figures  are  given  to  show  that  for  every  saloon 
closed  in  most  of  our  cities  there  are  now  many  "speak 
easies"  or  "kitchen  dives."  It  is  pointed  out  how  much 
more  difficult  it  becomes  to  reach  and  control  these  than 
the  old  time  saloon  which  was  licensed  and  in  a 
measure  under  control  of  constituted  authority.  Thus 
the  pro  and  the  anti  argue  back  and  forth,  each  dig- 
ging up  figures  and  statistics  to  prove  his  case. 

With  exaltation  prohibitionists  point  to  the 
cases  in  practically  every  community  where  some  in- 
dividuals, since  prohibition,  have  become  more  de- 
pendable, treat  their  families  better  and  are  saving 
more  money.  "If  prohibition  isn't  accomplishing 
good,"  they  challenge,  "then  explain  these  facts  and 

91 


others  which  can  be  seen  daily  by  all.**  The  answer 
is  simple  though  not  always  given.  It  is  to  grant  the 
soundness  of  the  argument — as  far  as  it  goes.  But 
right  here  is  where  human  frailty  enters  and  pro- 
hibitionists err  in  centering  attention  upon  only  a 
part  of  the  results  which  necessarily  flow  from  the 
prohibition  process.  The  fair  minded  will  grant 
that  the  only  safe  way  of  judging  the  merits  of  pro- 
hibition or  any  other  issue  is  to  weigh  all  the  results 
attending  it  and  not  stop  with  a  single  line  of  iso- 
lated results  that  may  be  but  a  small  fraction  of  the 
aggregate. 

A  complex  process,  such  as  prohibition,  pro- 
duces, mixed  results.  When  there  are  mixed  results, 
some  may  be  good  and  others  bad.  In  other  words, 
we  may  have  a  result  that  is  most  beneficient  and 
benign  following  or  growing  out  of  a  process. or  ac- 
tivity that  is  indefensibly  wrong  and  pernicious. 
This  is  so  important  a  point  as  applied  to  prohibi- 
tion and  is  so  seldom  grasped  that  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  give  two  or  three  examples  for  added  clear- 
ness. 

Suppose  a  chemist  to  learn  the  action  of  a  new 
compound  feeds  it  to  his  child  and  the  child  dies  as 
a  result.  The  chemist  gains  the  desired  knowledge 
which  in  itself  may  be  valuable  and  helpful  to  hu- 
manity, indeed,  may  lead  to  an  important  discovery 
to  aid  mankind.  But  would  you  say  the  method  or 
process  of  obtaining  this  beneficient  result  was 
right? 

Suppose  a  father  lacks  funds  to  complete  the 
education  of  a  promising  son  and  knows  that  with 
the  death  of  an  eccentric  uncle  the  boy  will  come  in- 
to possession  of  a  large  amount  of  money.  The  father 
causes  the  death  of  the  uncle,  the  son  is  educated  and 

92 


becomes  a  great  inspiration  to  and  benefactor  of  man- 
kind. In  this  case  the  father's  primary  motive  was 
commendable  and  the  results  to  the  son  and  the  world, 
in  themselves,  were  helpful.  But  what  of  the  other  re- 
sults ?  The  method  or  process  of  obtaining  the  good  re- 
sults was  not  only  wrong  and  destructive  but  also  crimi- 
nal, as  the  most  radical  prohibitionist  would  admit. 

Then  suppose  a  psychologist  desires  to  learn  more 
of  that  fascinating  subject  of  life  beyond  the  grave.  He 
has  been  told  that  those  who  bleed  to  death  usually 
pass  into  a  psychic  state  just  previous  to  death  in  which 
they  often  see  and  talk  with  those  who  have  gone  be- 
fore. To  gain  more  knowledge  he  takes  one  member  of 
his  family  after  another  into  his  laboratory  and  bleeds 
them  to  death  so  he  can  question  them  as  to  what  they 
see  and  hear  as  they  draw  near  the  valley  of  death. 
Here  too,  the  dominant  motive  may  be  worthy  and  some 
of  the  results  may  be  the  gaining  of  new  Hght  which  the 
whole  world  is  seeking.  If  authentic  information  is 
gained  that  there  is  another  life  and  that  death  does 
not  end  all,  think  of  the  comfort  and  courage  thus  given 
millions  of  troubled  souls. 

But  what  of  the  other  results  that  also  attended 
the  method  or  process  of  securing  these  beneficient  re- 
sults? Every  instinct  of  the  soul  rebels  against  the 
inhuman  and  unnatural  method  of  securing  those  re- 
sults which  in  themselves  were  commendable.  Better 
that  the  problem  be  left  unsolved  than  to  reach  it 
through  such  unjust  sacrifice. 

Thus  we  see  how  a  complex  method  or  process  may 
produce  mixed  results,  some  of  which  results  may  be 
good  and  others  wholly  bad.  There  is  the  further 
thought  that  the  desirable  results  may  be  secured 
through  other  methods  which  do  not  also  carry  the  bad 
results.  Refer  to  the  examples  above  given  and  note 
the  truth  thereof.    Still  further,  note  the  accompanying 

93 


corollary  that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  individual, 
practically  every  worthy  result  may  be  approached 
through  two  different  methods — ^the  right  and  the 
wrong,  the  constructive  or  the  destructive. 

In  the  light  of  this  explanation  the  application  to 
prohibition  should  be  readily  comprehended.  As  in 
the  cases  cited,  the  motive  is  worthy  and  some  of  the 
results  obtained  are  commendable.  These  results  and 
the  motive  are  what  prohibitionists  parade  before  the 
public,  and  to  a  surprising  degree  have  succeeded  in  di- 
verting attention  away  from  the  other  results  of  the 
prohibitive  process  which  are  both  bad  and  destructive. 
This  volume  freely  admits  the  worthy  motive  behind 
prohibition  and  the  value  of  the  results  which  are  bene- 
ficient.  But  instead  of  stopping  here,  it  goes  into  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  other  accompanying  results  and 
shows  their  injury,  evil,  curse  and  calamity.  Only  by 
weighing  all  the  results  of  the  prohibition  process  are 
we  able  to  intelligently  and  justly  measure  the  merit 
therein. 

Earlier  chapters  have  detailed  how  some  of  the  re- 
sults flowing  from  prohibition  are:  To  deny  develop- 
ment of  individual  choice,  reason  and  will  power ;  to  out- 
rage conscience;  to  relieve  the  individual  of  moral  ac- 
countability and  personal  responsibility;  to  align  or- 
ganized society  with  the  Destructive  instead  of  the  Con- 
structive Principle  of  Nature ;  to  disregard  the  inalien- 
able rights  and  privileges  and  obligations  of  each  in- 
dividual; to  set  aside  self-control,  that  master  key  of 
human  progress ;  to  make  a  criminal  of  Nature ;  to  re- 
ject the  working  plan  of  the  Almighty ;  to  foster  law- 
lessness; and  finally,  to  thwart  individual  unfoldment 
in  this  life  in  preparation  for  that  which  is  to  come. 
These  are  among  the  other  inevitable  results  of  prohi- 
bition and  temptation  removal.  Weigh  them  in  the 
balance  against  the  seemingly  beneficient  results  which 

94 


prohibitionists  talk  about.  Then  let  each  reader  say 
for  himself  whether  the  prohibitive  process  is  one  to 
which  an  enlightened  nation  should  continue  to  give  its 
support. 

Does  such  a  process  or  method  with  these  mixed 
results  lead  to  a  higher  or  lower  civilization?  As  in 
the  case  of  the  psychologist,  might  it  not  be  better  that 
the  problem  remain  unsolved  temporarily  than  to  ap- 
proach it  through  the  avenue  of  such  sacrifices  ?  Bet- 
ter still,  what  about  seeking  a  method  that  will  lead 
to  all,  or  more,  of  the  alleged  beneficial  results  now 
found  in  prohibition,  without  pulling  down  upon  our 
heads  all  of  the  evil  and  naturally  destructive  results 
outlined?  Why  did  not  organized  society  legislate 
against  drunkenness,  the  same  as  against  murder,  leav- 
ing man  access  to  Hquor  the  same  as  to  knives,  clubs, 
poison,  fire  and  water,  but  holding  him  accountable  for 
his  use  thereof?  Surely,  these  are  fair  and  pertinent 
questions  which  can  and  will  be  answered  if  the  public 
will  cease  worshipping  the  brazen  idol  of  self-deceit,  and 
demand  the  whole  truth  instead  of  a  mere  fraction. 

For  the  twofold  object  of  brevity  and  the  holding 
of  this  volume  to  fundamental  principles,  details  of 
gross  violations  of  the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead 
act  will  be  omitted.  That  prohibition  as  yet  fails  to 
prohibit  is  known  to  all  who  read  the  daily  press,  who 
reflect  upon  the  thousands  of  violations  that  never  reach 
the  courts  and  the  press  and  who  have  taken  the 
trouble  to  review  the  making  in  homes  of  beverages  be- 
yond the  1/2  of  1  %  alcoholic  content.  If  the  friends  of 
prohibition  can  see  a  moral  victory  in  the  accompany- 
ing effects  upon  adult  and  youth  alike,  their  vision  must 
match  their  wisdom  which  assumes  to  transcend  that 
of  the  Almighty. 

In  this  connection  the  reader  may  be  interested  in 
a  succinct  editorial  appearing  in  the  Springfield  (Mass) 

95 


Union  entitled  "The  vicious  enforcement  circle."     It 
reads : 

"One  ultimately  fatal  principle  appears  to  attend  prohibi- 
tion, either  as  a  federal  or  state  or  concurrent  undertaking.  Ef- 
forts to  make  it  stronger  only  weaken  it.  Enforcement  of  the 
law  constantly  calls  for  more  restrictions  and  these  breed  new 
weaknesses.  The  process  of  enforcement  sets  up  a  vicious  circle 
in  which  every  added  effort  to  enforce  the  law  increases  its  vio- 
lation; new  steps  are  taken  to  check  new  violations  and  thus  the 
inevitable  course  is  toward  the  legal  prohibition  of  all  uses  of 
alcohol  and  of  all  personal  liberty  and  the  actual  defiance  of 
law  and  assertion  of  personal  liberty. 

"Undoubtedly,  however,  this  process  must  go  on  until  it 
reaches  the  logical  end  of  absurdity,  complete  contempt  for  the 
law  and  complete  failure  to  enforce  it.  More  and  more  personal 
liberty  will  be  under  the  ban  of  the  law  and  more  and  more  it 
will  assert  its-elf  in  contempt  of  the  law.  The  Anti-Saloon  League 
apparently  has  no  other  recourse  than  constantly  to  appeal  for 
more  and  more  restrictions.  It  is  logically  the  only  way  it  has  to 
make  prohibition  a  success,  though  in  practice  it  makes  it  a 
failure.  Incidentally,  it  is  the  only  way  the  League  officials  can 
make  a  show  of  earning  their  salaries.  They  must  go  on  de- 
manding more  and  more  law  to  check  violations  of  laws  already 
enacted,  thereby  producing  more  and  more  violations,  calling  in 
turn  for  more  and  more  laws.  In  such  a  process  ultimately  comes 
a  critical  point  at  which  all  law  breaks  down." 

The  Herculean  task  of  explaining  all  this  is  left  to 
the  optimistic  prohibitionist  who  appears  so  sanguine 
as  to  the  progress  made  in  curbing  lawlessness.  It  is 
true  that  prohibition  is  a  comparatively  new  law  to  our 
country  as  a  national  edict.  Yet  this  is  offset  by  the 
large  amount  of  money  spent  solely  for  its  enforcement, 
and  the  young  army  of  enforcement  officials  whose  only 
duty  is  to  enforce  this  particular  law.  In  addition  are 
a  great  many  thousands  of  ordinary  servants  of  the 
law  whose  instructions  are  to  co-operate;  also  the 
powerful  agent  of  publicity  which  in  some  ways  is  more 
effective  than  all  else  combined. 

Penalties,  too,  are  severe,  confiscating  personal 
property  and  incarceration  in  prison.  Even  a  murderer 
may  leave  all  his  property  to  heirs.    An  automobile  in 

96 


which  he  is  caught  transporting  bombs  of  destruction 
is  not  forfeited  to  the  public  treasury.  But  if  he  is 
transporting  liquor,  it  is.  The  penalties  for  a  violator 
of  the  Volstead  act  except  paying  the  "supreme  price" 
are  more  tyranical  and  inclusive  than  for  the  taking 
of  human  life.  No  single  law  has  ever  enjoyed  greater 
latitude  of  power,  official  influence  and  financial  backing 
than  prohibition.  Thus  the  argument  of  insufficient 
time  to  clean  the  country  of  booze  loses  some  of  its 
force. 

Then  the  much  stressed  point  of  economic  savings 
also  has  another  side.  Here  again  are  muxed  results 
with  prohibitionists  directing  attention  only  to  those 
which  are  beneficient.  All  know  how  taxpayers  are 
groaning  under  the  burdens  of  taxation  and  how  Con- 
gress is  at  its  wits  ends  to  provide  money  for  meeting 
the  nation's  obligations.  Under  former  revenue  taxes 
the  government  has  lost  upwards  of  300  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually  in  direct  tax.  This  could  have  been  trebled 
and  given  consumers  in  a  legal  manner  better  intoxi- 
cants for  less  money  than  they  are  paying  today  and 
paying  illegally.  What  they  are  breaking  the  law  to 
get  today  and  even  flirting  with  death  to  secure  at  $10 
to  $20  a  quart  shows  the  revenue  possibilities  of  de- 
pendable goods  legally  handled.  Not  only  do  we  scorn 
such  revenue  and  fail  to  get  the  prohibition  that  we 
pay  for,  but  we  also  are  giving  our  citizenry  a  post- 
graduate course  in  lawlessness  which  means  ever  in- 
creasing expense,  misery  and  death.  Adding  insult  to 
injury  taxpayers  are  required  to  provide  the  millions  of 
dollars  for  the  so-called  enforcement  of  such  an  un- 
economic system.  It  is  not  unlike  condemning  a  man 
to  death  and  then  requiring  him  to  dig  his  own  grave, 
erect  the  gallows  and  furnish  the  rope. 

Let  us  ever  remember  that  money  is  not  the  meas- 
ure of  the  man  nor  of  civilization.    Does  America  wish 

97 


to  further  promote  the  world  impression  that  we 
measure  progress  only  in  dollar  marks  ?  Did  the  Naz- 
arene  teach  a  gospel  of  money  hoarding?  What  was 
meant  in  that  passage  about  it  being  easier  for  a  camel 
to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man 
to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God  ? 

"But,"  says  the  prohibitionist,  "what  if  taxes  are 
greatly  increased,  the  people  can  take  the  money  they 
spent  for  booze  and  easily  pay  them."  Do  they  ?  The 
same  argument  holds  for  tobacco,  chewing  gum,  tea 
and  cofFee,  candies,  theaters,  golf,  baseball,  automobiles, 
fiction  and  dozens  of  things  which  varying  tastes  seem 
to  desire  for  breaking  up  the  monotony  of  life.  There 
is  that  in  human  nature  which  craves  some  sort  of  di- 
version for  highest  efficiency.  One  person  will  forego 
many  things  to  indulge  his  particular  taste,  whether  it 
be  the  pleasures  of  golf  or  the  fellowship  of  sparkling 
wine.  What  is  a  satisfying  diversion  for  one  is  ennui 
for  others. 

But  right  or  wrong,  the  fact  remains  that  human 
nature  rebels  against  others  telling  what  that  diversion 
shall  be.  Even  more  does  it  rebel  against  others  telling 
how  the  money  the  individual  has  earned  shall  be  spent. 
It  may,  and  too  often  is,  spent  foolishly  as  the  average 
person  sees  it.  But  that  is  something  the  individual 
must  learn  for  himself.  It  is  a  part  of  his  education 
for  which  he  must  pay  the  price.  Unfortunately,  others 
too  frequently  likewise  pay  a  price  for  his  ignorance. 
But  that  is  a  part  of  this  life — of  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  None  of  us  are  all  wise  and  perfect.  Each  is  prone 
to  some  error  for  which  in  one  way  or  another  others 
suffer. 

Meantime  all  are  advancing  in  knowledge  and  pay- 
ing some  price  therefor.  To  assume  that  this  progress 
and  knowledge  can  be  legislated  in  complete  defiance  of 
human  nature  and  Divine  laws  is  to  outlaw  the  Al- 

98 


mighty.  These  are  among  the  other  results  of  legis- 
lating what  an  individual  can  do  with  his  money  about 
which  prohibitionists  have  little  to  say.  Their  motive 
of  reducing  the  suffering  through  ignorant  abuse  of 
intoxicants  is  excellent  but  their  remedy  is  worse  than 
the  disease.  Humanity  doesn't  leap  to  Utopia  in  that 
sort  of  way. 


99 


Chapter  XI. 
Might  or  Right 

Because  right  is  right,  to  follow  right 

Were  wisdom  in  the  scorn  of  consequences. — [Tennyson. 

Many  there  are  who  have  noted  the  incongruity 
of  America  sending  large  forces  to  Europe  to  help 
uphold  the  same  identical  principles  of  human  lib- 
erty which  America  herself  today  is  attempting  to 
grossly  violate.  Harsh  as  it  may  sound,  the  now 
discredited  German  dogma  of  "might  makes  right" 
was  no  worse  in  principle  than  is  the  doctrine  of 
prohibition  when  followed  to  its  natural  conclusion. 
The  issue  in  both  cases  is  that  of  subjection  and  hu- 
man bondage  through  force.  The  Great  War  was  a 
struggle  between  irreconcilable  ideals.  Individual 
liberty  was  arrayed  against  collective  servitude; 
personal  initiative  and  individual  development 
against  the  tyranny  of  centralized  authority.  The 
German  ideal  was  that  of  force  and  subjection,  a 
philosophy  that  might  can  and  does  make  right. 

This  doctrine  is  nothing  new.  Its  manifesta- 
tions have  kept  Europe  at  war  for  2000  years.  In 
fact,  from  earliest  antiquity  there  has  existed  this 
same  struggle  between  two  opposing  forces,  each 
contending  for  the  destiny  of  human  intelligence. 
One  of  these  forces  has  ever  been  the  consistent 
champion  of  individual  life,  liberty  and  happiness. 
The  other  has  as  consistently  labored  to  control  and 
dominate  the  life,  intelligence  and  development  of 

100 


the  individual,  subjecting  him  to  intellectual  bond- 
age and  servitude.  A  masterful  description  of  these 
two  forces  is  found  in  The  Great  Psychological 
Crime  (page  376)  edited  by  Florence  Huntley: 

"One  (force)  has  openly  fostered  the  spirit  of  freedom 
and  independence  as  a  basic  principle  of  individual  and  or- 
ganic human  life.  The  other  has  covertly  sought  to  reduce 
the  individual  to  the  status  of  a  mere  instrument  in  the  hands 
and  under  the  domination  and  control  of  an  aggregate  or- 
ganic will  and  design.  The  one  has  dignified  and  emphasized 
the  individual  to  the  status  of  a  mere  instrument  in  the  hands 
itself  and  society.  The  other  has  persistently  ignored  the 
great  fundamental  fact  of  Nature,  that  the  individual  in  his 
own  right,  as  such,  is  invested  with  certain  indefeasible  at- 
tributes and  certain  inalienable  rights,  privileges  and  benefits 
which  must  be  respected. 

"The  one  has  recognized  the  fact  that  man's  value  to 
himself  as  an  individual  is  the  only  sure  and  true  measure  of 
his  value  as  an  active,  living  factor  in  the  social  organism 
of  which  he  is  a  part.  The  other  has  proceeded  as  if  upon 
the  assumption  that  man  has  but  one  value,  namely,  his  value 
to  the  great  aggregate  body  of  which  he  is  a  part,  and  that 
his  value,  even  in  that  capacity,  is  measured  by  the  degree 
to  which  his  individual  will,  intelligence  and  conscience  are 
subject  to  the  domination  and  control  of  that  aggregate  body." 

Though  written  against  the  psychological  crime 
of  hypnotism  and  mediumship,  note  the  true  picture 
drawn  of  the  principles  and  forces  at  work  in  pro- 
hibition the  same  as  they  were  in  the  Great  War. 
On  one  hand  are  the  inalienable  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  individuals  to  self-development,  growth  and 
happiness;  on  the  other  arbitrary  and  centralized 
force  to  subjugate  and  dominate  the  individual,  even 
to  his  divinely  endowed  soul  attributes  of  choice, 
conscience,  reason  and  will.  That  this  perennial 
struggle  has  ever  been  with  mankind  Huntley  re- 
minds us  in  these  words: 

"At  the  very  cradle  of  humanity  these  two  forces  arrayed 
themselves  in  an  irrepressible  conflict.  At  that  point  the 
struggle  began.  From  that  point  forward  throughout  all  the 
subsequent  ages,  even  to  the  present  time,  it  has  continued  un- 
abated.    At  no  time  within  the  limits  of  authentic  history  has 

101 


the   conflict  reached   a   more   critical  stage   than   in   this,  the 

dawning  of  the  20th  Christian  century The  one 

(force)  develops  individual  intelligence,  courage  and  perse- 
verance and  a  sense  of  individual  responsibility  through 
the  power  and  process  of  a  broad  and  liberal  education.  The 
other  commands  obedience  and  subjection." 


The  reader  cannot  fail  to  note  how  accurately 
this  portrays  the  fundamental  causes  of  the  Great 
War  and  likewise  applies  to  prohibition.  For  cen- 
turies to  come,  posterity  will  laud  the  ennobling  and 
successful  role  played  by  America  and  her  allies 
against  German  dictation.  But  what  will  posterity 
have  to  say  of  America  who  resorted,  in  the  name 
of  prohibition,  to  the  same  subjecting  principles  of 
German  Kulture,  to  enforce  moral  conduct?  The 
psychology  of  force  against  individual  will  is  well 
presented  by  Dr.  George  Crile  in  his  Mechanistic 
Conception  of  War  and  Peace.    We  read: 

"But  again  the  question  rises:  Can  a  people  through 
force  be  given  action-patterns  against  their  will?  Rome  never 
succeeded  in  Romanizing  the  world.  Rome  tried  to  subjugate 
Belgium;  Belgium  is  here,  Rome  has  passed.  Napoleon  failed 
the  Moors  failed;  England  never  assimilated  the  Irish,  nor  the 
Scotch;  Russia  the  Poles;  nor  the  Manchus  the  Chinese.  .  . 
.  .  Force  creates  action-patterns  of  opposition  and  of 
hatred." 

Yet  in  the  face  of  world  history  American  or- 
ganized society  deludes  itself  with  the  vision  of  forc- 
ing action-patterns  of  personal  conduct  as  regards 
choice  of  beverages,  upon  her  unwilling  people.  Dr. 
Crile's  deduction  is  already  proving  itself  true  as  ap- 
plied to  prohibition.  The  truth  that  force  is  creat- 
ing action-patterns  of  opposition  is  most  obvious  to 
us  all,  even  to  prohibitionists  themselves. 

From  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  human  nature 
gives  evidence  of  that  perverseness  which  appears 
bent  upon  doing  what  it  is  told  it  cannot.     Parents 

102 


who  have  raised  a  family  of  children  know  how 
early  in  childhood  this  asserts  itself.  Indeed,  the 
parents  themselves  are  not  inclined  to  be  satisfied, 
without  personal  experience,  that  they  cannot  do  a 
thing  through  simple  reason  of  being  told  they  can- 
not. Except  for  this  trait  in  human  nature  Colum- 
bus would  have  failed  to  discover  America  and 
thousands  of  inventions  to  benefit  mankind  would 
not  now  be  history. 

Force,  whether  in  the  name  of  German  super- 
man, or  in  the  name  of  prohibition  to  control  per- 
sonal conduct,  antagonizes  the  instincts  of  an  indi- 
vidual soul  that  is  born  in  freedom.  As  Germany 
failed  to  subjugate  Belgium  by  force  of  might  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  regeneration  after  the  con- 
quest, so  may  America  fail  in  the  final  analysis  to 
conquer  individual  choice  in  personal  habits  by 
might  of  law,  even  though  the  alleged  purpose  is  one 
of  altruism  and  regeneration.  A  normal,  worth  while 
human  soul  born  in  a  liberty-developed  country  must 
continue  to  reserve  some  instincts  of  doing  things 
without,  or  regardless  of,  being  forced. 

As  to  this  dogma  of  centralized  force  against 
the  conscience  and  will  power  of  individuals,  if 
America  has  forgotten  the  results  in  earlier  history 
of  nations,  it  would  seem  she  might  still  remember 
Germany's  experience  in  the  recent  Great  War. 
Germany's  extreme  forces  of  tyranny,  famine,  tor- 
ture and  suppression  did  not  conquer  the  wills  of 
wonderful  Belgium,  of  France,  of  Poland,  of  Serbia, 
of  England,  of  America  herself.  All  these  w^ere 
fighting  for  the  inherent  and  inalienable  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  human  soul.  Germany  could  not 
enfeeble  the  will  of  any  nation  which  she  invaded. 
All  of  them  would  rather  die  than  submit. 

103 


History  has  demonstrated  again  and  again  that 
there  is  no  despot  so  mighty  that  he  can  dominate 
a  people  who  will  not  obey.  Nature  and  every  in- 
stinct of  free  men  fight  on  the  side  of  Right,  rather 
than  with  Might. 

Perhaps  the  reader  may  experience  some  diffi- 
culty in  seeing  any  essential  similarity  between  ab- 
hored  German  might  and  morality-claimed  prohibi- 
tion. If  so,  it  is  largely  because  he  has  been  so  in- 
terested in  the  motive  of  prohibition  and  in  the  good 
that  would  accrue  to  mankind  if  there  were  no 
drunkenness,  that  he  has  wholly  overlooked  the 
principle  and  method  of  the  prohibitive  process — a 
method  and  process  that  bring  both  good  and  bad 
results  as  explained  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The 
unconvinced  are  reminded  that  what  made  Germany 
the  enemy  of  the  world  was  her  materialistic  way 
of  riding  rough  shod  over  the  higher  principles  of 
spiritual  value.  Her  conception  of  the  ethics  of  right 
and  wrong  had  been  warped  by  generations  of 
teaching  that  might  is  right,  that  force  constituted 
the  acme  of  attainment.  Her  failure  to  recognize 
the  innate  rights,  privileges,  duties  and  instincts  of 
the  human  soul,  antagonized  and  embittered  the 
whole  world  and  lost  Germany  the  war. 

What  this  chapter,  reenforced  by  those  pre- 
ceding, would  emphasize  is,  that  America,  through 
prohibition,  has,  for  the  first  time  in  her  history, 
taken  the  first  step  upon  this  same  road  which  led 
Germany  to  her  downfall,  just  as  it  led  other  nations 
to  destruction.  Assumption  by  a  nation  or  a  govern- 
ment through  law,  and  force  if  need  be,  of  the  con- 
trol and  dictatorship  of  those  rights,  privileges  and 
obligations  which  the  individual  himself  must  ex- 
ercise for  his  own  development,  has  ever  led  down- 

104 


ward.  This  is  exactly  what  the  18th  amendment  and 
Volstead  Act  would  accomplish  by  nullifying  the  in- 
dividual soul  attributes  of  conscience,  choice,  reason 
and  will  power.  It  would  be  a  short,  happy  solution 
of  many  world  problems  today  if  we  could  legislate 
or  force  morality  upon  the  masses.  The  Almighty 
decreed  otherwise.  It  is  fully  as  logical  to  seek  leg- 
islative force  for  making  every  man,  woman  and 
child  live  a  Christian  life  as  to  legislate  the  kind  of 
beverage  he  shall  use. 

The  sad  and  disgraceful  mistake  Germany 
made  was  in  the  delusion  that  whatever  she  wanted 
she  could  get — by  force.  Justice  and  morality  were 
trivial,  and  issues  only  for  the  old  and  weaklings. 
Before  the  supreme  force  of  the  government,  the 
omniscient  power  of  the  Fatherland,  must  everything 
yield  as  dew  before  the  sun.  Cannot  the  reader  see 
that  America  is  following  the  same  doctrine  of  get- 
ting what  she  wants — by  force?  That  what  she 
wants  is  worthy,  doesn't  alter  the  principle  any  more 
than  when  the  psychologist  bled  his  family  to  death 
to  learn  for  mankind  something  more  about  life  be- 
yond the  grave. 

What  would  it  profit  America  to  gain  real  pro- 
hibition and  thereby  lose  the  soul  attributes  of  her 
citizenry?  Indeed,  the  alleged  intention  of  Ger- 
many was  to  conquer  the  world  and  then  regenerate 
it.  America,  too,  even  before  she  has  conquered 
liquor  in  her  own  domain,  has  visions  of  ''forcing  the 
whole  world  dry."  Just  as  the  Germans  considered 
themselves  chosen  of  God  to  stamp  their  superiority 
upon  the  world,  so  is  there  evidence  that  America 
thinks  she  is  Divinely  called  to  remove  the  tempta- 
tion of  intoxicants  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Further 
note  that  America  is  choosing  precisely  the  same 

105 


course  as  did  Germany — not  the  recognition  of 
moral  accountability  and  individual  rights,  privi- 
leges and  obligations  of  the  human  soul,  but  force. 
As  judged  from  the  visible  success  of  enforcement 
to  the  time  of  this  writing,  America  will  get  the  same 
results  as  did  Germany  when  she  set  out  to  prove 
that  might  is  right. 

It  is  the  old,  old  story  of  suppression,  of  out- 
raging the  natural  soul  instincts  and  driving  the  in- 
dividual back  into  secret  resentment  and  repression, 
instead  of  self-expression,  self-control  and  self-de- 
velopment. It  is  the  atmosphere  of  Might  instead  of 
Right  in  which  he  finds  himself.  He  finds  this  power 
of  might  which  subjugates  his  choice,  conscience, 
reason  and  will  power  to  a  fixed  and  arbitrary  stand- 
ard, just  as  oppressive  as  the  military  might  of  Ger- 
many because  it  places  in  bondage  the  attributes  of 
the  soul  itself. 

The  1921  tercentenary  of  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  Rock  reminded  Americans  that 
it  was  this  very  character  of  oppression  and  repres- 
sion of  individual  choice,  conscience,  reason  and  will 
power,  that  caused  these  courageous  and  noble  souls 
to  seek  a  new  and  free  country  where  they  could 
worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own 
conscience  and  assert  their  powers  of  self-develop- 
ment. In  principle,  the  18th  amendment  and  Vol- 
stead Act  annul  the  very  doctrine  of  individual  lib- 
erty for  which  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  crossed  a  storm- 
tossed  sea  to  establish.  For  more  than  100  years 
thereafter  they  or  those  who  followed  them  suffered 
trials,  starvation  and  death. 

Then  came  from  their  sacrifices  and  steadfast- 
ness to  principle  that  inspiring  American  Magna 
Charta  known  as  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

106 


Into  it  their  spirit  breathed  such  sublime  sentiment 
as:  ''We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  That 
all  men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness; that  to  secure  these  rights  governments  are 
instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever 
any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of 
these  ends  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or 
abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  government." 

The  same  living  spirit  of  Divinely  endowed 
rights,  privileges  and  obligations  for  the  individual 
soul  are  found  in  the  preamble  to  our  national  Con- 
stitution: "We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in 
order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for  the  common 
defense,  promote  the  general  welfare  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  poster- 
ity, do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution  for  the 
United  States  of  America." 

These  ennobling  sentiments  are  far  removed 
from  the  spirit  of  Might.  There  is  reverence  for, 
and  a  mantle  of  protection  drawn  about,  the  human 
soul,  with  which  ''the  Creator  endowed  certain  in- 
alienable rights  and  privileges."  Not  rights  of  in- 
terfering with  the  rights  of  others,  but  rights  to 
happiness,  self-expression  and  self-development 
making  sure  that  in  the  gaining  thereof  these  are  not 
denied  another  in  his  own  rights. 

From  this  high  and  exalted  spiritual  plane  of 
Rights  to  individual  growth  and  unfoldment  we 
plunge  through  the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead 
Act,  to  the  sordid,  materialistic  sphere  of  forcing 
man  by  law,  backed  up  by  an  armed  host,  to  do  those 

107 


things  against  which  his  conscience  rebels.  Indeed, 
he  is  commanded  to  circumvent  Nature  herself,  as 
for  example,  to  prevent  fermentation  of  cider  or 
other  fruit  juices,  under  penalty  of  lav^.  Truly,  the 
spirits  of  our  Pilgrim  ancestors  v^ho  started  us  so 
well,  must  proclaim :  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do." 

Prohibitionists  appear  to  have  overlooked  the 
really  important  fact  that  the  Almighty  is  more  con- 
cerned in  the  destiny  of  the  human  soul,  its  develop- 
ment and  unfoldment,  than  in  any  mighty  mortal 
laws  the  enforcement  of  which  would  make  a  crim- 
inal of  Nature.  This  development  and  unfoldment 
are  impossible  by  denying  the  individual  the  exer- 
cise of  the  very  soul  attributes  or  tools  which  the 
Creator  gave  man  with  which  to  work  out  his  own 
destiny.  Many  are  sure  to  use  these  tools  crudely, 
even  destructively,  but  to  take  them  away  alto- 
gether, as  in  prohibition,  is  to  rob  man  of  his  birth- 
right. 

The  spirit  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
in  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion itself  and  in  the  subsequent  amendments,  ex- 
cept the  18th,  is  to  guard  that  birthright.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  all  constructive  law  which  is  founded 
on  Right  instead  of  Might.  To  secure  this  protec- 
tion, it  is  necessary  to  make  the  individual  account- 
able and  responsible  for  how  he  uses  these  soul  at- 
tributes or  tools  given  him  with  which  to  build  a 
Temple  of  Character,  but  not  to  take  them  away 
from  him  entirely.  To  rob  man  of  choice,  con- 
science, reason  and  will  power,  as  in  prohibition,  is 
to  depart  from  the  plan  of  the  Creator  and  thereby 
defeat  our  own  aims.     That  is  how  Germany  and 

108 


other  nations  defeated  themselves — by  substituting 
Might  for  Right. 

The  sooner  frenzied  fanaticism  of  Might 
through  law  gives  place  to  calm  and  constructive 
work  of  Right,  the  sooner  will  America  have  less 
abuse  of  alcoholic  beverages.  This  work  of  Right 
must  be  through  such  agencies  as  will  enlist  the 
moral  accountability,  personal  responsibility,  con- 
science and  other  soul  characteristics  of  the  individ- 
ual rather  than  in  pushing  to  the  front  forces  which 
are  inherently  hostile  thereto.  Is  it  not  most  sugges- 
tive that  history  shows  where  the  course  of  Might 
was  chosen,  the  end  sooner  or  later  was  failure,  that 
when  the  direction  of  Right  was  espoused,  progress 
for  civilization  was  finally  recorded?  Then  why  do 
prohibitionists  dictatorially  insist  upon  methods  of 
Might  instead  of  Right  to  place  mankind  on  a  high- 
er plane  of  moral  accountability  and  ennobling 
spirituality?     Why  dictate  instead  of  educate? 


109 


Chapter  XII. 
Worthy  Intent  But  Vicious  Method 

And  makes  us  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have 

Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of. — [Shakespeare. 

The  road  to  hell  is  paved  with  good  intentions. 
Only  the  highway  of  effort  leads  Heavenward. 

The  joy  of  individual  achievement  in  our  daily 
lives — of  a  worthy  work  well  done — foreshadows  the 
happiness  that  may  be  ours  in  the  life  yet  to  come. 

Deeds,  not  aims,  count  in  the  final  analysis.  How- 
ever worthy  the  aim  or  intent,  it  is  impotant  without 
the  sustaining  powers  of  the  human  soul.  In  this 
final  chapter  the  author  will  follow  the  same  sequence 
established  in  all  that  has  preceded  by  giving  prohibi- 
tion enthusiasts  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

The  ardent  leaders  and  advocates  will  be  given  a 
spotless  and  untarnished  motive  or  intent  in  their 
labors  for  the  good  of  mankind.  Hence  let  us  freely 
grant  their  profound  altruism,  their  fathomless  anx- 
iety to  relieve  the  world  of  intoxicating  liquor  abuses, 
and  their  solicitous  concern  for  the  destiny  of  the 
human  soul.  To  the  unprejudiced  this  surely  is  as 
liberal  and  tolerant  as  the  example  they  themselves 
set.  Concede  then  a  worthy  motive  or  intent  to  the 
n-th  degree.  The  closing  pages  of  Chapter  II,  plus 
the  opening  paragraph  of  this  chapter,  tell  the  story 
of  motive  or  intent  and  their  subordination  to  prin- 
ciples of  Nature. 

Now,  what  about  the  method  and  the  principles 
it  invokes?    If  the  reader  has  had  the  courage  to  fol- 

110 


low  closely  all  the  preceding  chapters  he  will  see  how 
impossible  and  impracticable,  in  fact  Nature-defying, 
are  the  principles  of  prohibition.  Chapter  II  went 
into  detail  showing  the  two  great  fundamental  laws 
or  principles  of  Nature  which  are  forever  contending 
for  sovereignty  in  the  life  of  every  intelligent  soul. 
One  is  Constructive,  the  other  Destructive,  but  with 
each  individual  rests  the  power  and  the  initiative  of 
conforming  his  life  to  the  one  or  the  other.  The  re- 
sponsibility is  not  that  of  priests,  ministers,  prohibi- 
tionists, politicians  or  potentates.  But  through  his 
Divine  birthright  of  the  soul  attributes  of  self-con- 
sciousness, choice,  reason  and  will  power,  each  nor- 
mal individual  is  accountable  and  responsible  first  to 
the  laws  of  Nature  and  incidentally  to  society.  This 
was  explained  in  Chapter  IV,  as  well  as  how  upon  his 
free  and  independent  exercise  of  these  individual  soul 
attributes  must  he  depend  for  his  ability  to  co-operate 
with  Nature's  Constructive  Principle  and  thereby  ac- 
creditably  discharge  his  obligation  of  responsibility  to 
society  and  earn  the  rewards  of  self-development. 

Most  unfortunately,  the  method  of  prohibition  is 
to  abrogate  all  four  of  these  human  soul  attributes. 
As  regards  good  and  evil — free  and  independent  choice 
and  reason  are  denied  man,  his  will  power  is  discred- 
ited and  conscience  outraged.  The  specific  human 
tools  that  Nature  or  the  Almighty  gave  man  to  exer- 
cise, develop  and  become  responsible  for  are  taken 
away  from  him.  Without  them  no  individual  can  ever 
build  a  Temple  of  Character.  The  vicious  method  of 
prohibition  is  in  society,  as  such,  attempting  to  do 
the  building  for  him  by  removal  of  temptation.  Such 
suggested  development  and  growth  by  proxy  is  con- 
trary to  common  sense  and  mocks  the  Divine  plan  of 
progress  for  the  human  soul.  Personal  effort  or  no 
personal  reward  is  the  decree  of  Nature.  Her  Con- 
Ill 


structive  principle  provides  that  individual  con- 
science, choice,  reason  and  will  power  which  make 
man  human,  must  be  exercised  or  they  will  degener- 
ate and  devitalize  to  a  point  where  the  individual  is  a 
mere  machine  or  automaton  and  is  little  better  than 
entities  in  the  animal  kingdom.  This  is  the  Destruc- 
tive and  degenerating  direction  that  prohibition  (or 
any  other  proxy  scheme  of  evading  individual  ac- 
countability) leads. 

If  America  desires  a  future  race  of  spineless  im- 
beciles she  has  only  to  follow  the  principles  of  the 
18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act.  That  end  is  in- 
evitable if  her  organized  society  continues  long 
enough  to  follow  a  course  of  perfecting  machinery 
with  which  to  take  over  control  of  the  human  soul 
attributes  so  each  individual  will  have  to  do  nothing, 
be  nothing,  except  what  he's  told.  Continue  the  plan 
of  temptation  removal  so  man  can  be  good  without 
having  to  try,  and  you  continue  to  evade  the  develop- 
ment of  self-control  and  self-mastery  which  the  Mas- 
ter, Jesus,  taught  are  essential  to  man's  well  being — 
here  and  hereafter. 

The  sophistry  of  prohibition  is  the  more  amaz- 
ing when  one  recalls  it  went  into  the  Constitution  of 
a  much-paraded  free  country  and  under  the  guise  of 
a  higher  civilization.  The  seductive  danger  comes  in 
subtly  holding  attention  to  a  few  of  the  seemingly 
good  results  gained  until  the  masses  are  so  far  along 
on  the  downhill  road  of  suppression  and  soul  destruc- 
tion that  nothing  short  of  a  revolution  can  bring  them 
back  to  Nature's  Constructive  Principle  and  the  Crea- 
tor's plan  of  human  progress. 

That  is  precisely  what  occurred  in  Germany  as 
outlined  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Generation  after 
generation  was  taught  the  insignificance  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  momentous  importance  of   the  whole, 

112 


or  the  Fatherland.  Nothing  mattered  so  long  as  the 
great  ponderous  machine  of  Kulture  functioned  in  its 
alleged  Divine  mission  of  regenerating  the  whole 
world.  The  masses  were  soulless  clods  whose  essen- 
tial duty  was  to  meekly  submit  to  the  control,  guid- 
ance and  management  of  those  in  authority. 

The  sad  and  calamitous  truth  was  that  the 
masses  were  deceived  in  the  direction  they  were  trav- 
eling. Their  sacrifices,  docile  self-surrender,  and  re- 
linquishment of  individual  rights  and  privileges,  were 
so  gradual  and  accomplished  in  so  plausible  and  subtle 
a  manner  that  they  did  not  realize  how  they  were  on 
a  downward  incline  to  destruction.  It  required  the 
world's  greatest  war  to  convince  them  of  their  error. 
Thus  we  witnessed  how  the  masses  of  a  great  nation 
were  misled  to  their  downfall.  All  was  accomplished 
under  the  insidiously  deceptive  slogan  of  world  regen- 
eration through  German  Kulture  which  magnified  the 
machinery  of  authority  but  dehumanized  the  soul  of 
an  individual. 

Similarly,  America  proposes  to  save  the  world 
from  liquor  abuses  under  the  guise  of  preventing 
drunkenness  and  evil  by  way  of  the  18th  amendment 
and  the  great  Volstead  Act,  which  also  magnify  the 
machinery  of  authority  and  remove  the  human  from 
humanity.  Few  nations  ever  received,  and  merited, 
the  world-wide  hatred,  loathing  and  abhorrence  given 
Germany  during  the  war.  Yet  all  that  America  need 
do  to  earn  similar  detestation  is  to  continue  in  the 
line  of  prohibition  for  a  few  generations.  Eliminate 
liquor,  eliminate  tobacco,  eliminate  labor  or  enjoy- 
ment on  the  Sabbath,  eliminate  one  by  one  the  many 
bad  habits  of  individuals,  eliminate  merriment  in  the 
theaters  if  it  chance  to  be  provoked  by  reference  to 
prohibition,  eliminate  tea  and  coffee  and  chewing 
gum,  eliminate  desires,  cravings  and  impulses,  elimi- 

113 


note  work  itself,  as  far  as  possible,  eliminate  charity 
and  tolerance,  eliminate  hundreds  of  other  things 
which  enter  into  man's  estate  to  make  him  human ! 

Of  course,  America  cannot,  no  more  than  did 
Germany,  transform  the  masses  in  one  generation.  It 
would  require  several  to  completely  subdue  and  sub- 
ordinate the  human  souls  of  America's  masses.  The 
wholesale  defiance  of  prohibition  indicates  the  kind 
and  powerful  machinery  of  authority  it  is  going  to 
require  if  the  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will 
power  of  the  average  American  are  held  in  chains. 
Such  a  task  is  truly  appalling. 

But  why  elect  that  destructive  route?  Why  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  German  suppression? 

Why  set  up  ponderous  and  costly  machinery  of 
centralized  authority  to  do  the  work  and  assume  the 
responsibilities  which  the  individual  should  carry,  ac- 
cording to  the  plan  of  the  Creator? 

Why  waste  useless  energy,  time  and  money,  try- 
ing to  convince  an  intelligent  people  that  the  Creator 
was  negligent  in  not  removing  temptation  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  or  that  Nature  and  Nature's  God  are 
criminally  liable  for  allowing  fruit  juices  to  so  quick- 
ly exceed  V2  of  1%  alcoholic  content? 

Why  pollute  a  formerly  spotless  and  exalted  Con- 
stitution of  a  free  and  achieving  people  with  such  a 
destructive  and  Nature-defying  doctrine? 

Why  deny  the  human  soul  an  opportunity  of  self- 
control,  self -development  and  self-mastery? 

Why  be  deceived  by  the  song  of  the  siren  that  the 
easy  road  to  morality  is  to  legislate? 

Why  tolerate  the  dogma  that  might  through  law 
makes  right? 

Why  permit  ourselves  to  be  decoyed  into  a  posi- 
tion where   to  defend    the  natural    attributes  of   the 

114 


human  soul  is  to  invite  the  stigma  of  championing 
drunkenness  and  evil? 

Why  call  upon  the  majesty  of  the  law  to  justify 
the  idiotic  notion  that  the  senseless  agent,  liquor, 
should  be  charged  with  responsibility  instead  of  man 
himself  ? 

Why  assume  that  the  entire  American  people 
must  be  protected  against  themselves  after  the  same 
fashion  as  hospitals  for  the  mentally  unbalanced  and 
corrective  or  penal  institutions  lend  assistance  by 
making  choices  and  directing  the  energies  of  the  un- 
fortunate inmates? 

Why  repudiate  a  national  policy  in  matters  of 
conduct,  that  produced  a  Lincoln,  an  Edison,  a  Bell, 
a  Roosevelt  and  thousands  of  other  great  and  noble 
souls? 

Why  incite  a  future  war  which,  according  to  the 
records  of  world  history,  has  unfailingly  followed 
the  continued  suppression  of  the  rights,  privileges 
and  obligations  of  the  human  soul? 

Why  despotically  impose  the  penalty  of  confiscat- 
ing property  which  is  not  done  even  in  the  high  crime 
of  murder? 

Why  inflame  the  masses  by  emphasizing  the  aris- 
tocratic and  un-American  principle  of  denying  the 
working  man  that  which  is  attainable  by  the  wealthy? 

Why  enact  laws  which  in  the  words  of  the  august 
judiciary  of  the  American  bar  association  ''lawyers, 
bankers,  great  merchants  and  manufacturers,  social 
leaders,  both  men  and  women,"  do  not  hesitate  to 
scoff  and  disobey? 

Why  crush  individuality  by  creating  exact  legis- 
lative molds  which  would  guarantee  by  the  might  of 
authority  a  sameness  of  all — be  they  virtuous  or  de- 
praved, healthy  or  morbid,  gifted  or  idiotic,  refined 
or  coarse,  faithful  or  false,  saint  or  sinner? 

115 


Why  delude  ourselves  with  a  vision  of  a  higher 
civilization  by  removing  the  obstacles  which  the  indi- 
vidual himself  must  overcome  to  learn  self-control 
and  self-mastery? 

Why  force  our  way  from  without  to  the  unfold- 
ment  of  man's  morality  when  the  Creator  specifically 
provided  that  the  only  unf oldment  in  any  of  the  four 
kingdoms  of  Nature  (mineral,  plant,  animal  and  man- 
kind) which  can  be  constructive  is  from  within? 

Why  interfere  with  the  Divine  plan  on  this  earth 
which  is  for  each  individual,  regardless  of  where  he 
starts  (through  heredity  or  environment)  to  meet 
pleasures,  joys,  sorrows,  temptations,  duties,  and 
master  them  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  and  to  the 
degree  of  his  success  receive  the  rewards  and  bless- 
ings of  this  world  and  the  one  yet  to  come? 

Why  follow  the  examples  of  Egypt,  Rome  and 
Germany  in  robbing  humanity  of  its  endowed  tools  of 
conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will  power — only  in  the 
full  possession  of  which  is  it  even  possible  for  the  in- 
dividual to  develop  and  civilization  improve? 

Why  deny  exercise  of  these  four  essential  soul 
attributes  to  all  for  the  mere  reason  that  a  small  per- 
centage have  thus  far  continued  to  abuse  them? 

Why  annihilate  an  agent  of  temptation,  the  con- 
quering of  which  might  mean  progress  and  self-un- 
foldment  to  thousands  when  its  removal  is  in  no  way 
a  victory  for  those  who  might  fail? 

Why  not  provide  methods  of  assisting  the  weak- 
er and  lending  re-enforcements  to  his  own  forces,  the 
combination  of  which  will  win  a  victory  for  the  weak 
individual  and  hence  for  civilization? 

Why  proceed,  contrary  to  His  teachings,  as 
though  this  material  life  were  all,  when  in  fact  it  is 
but  incidental,  and  why  so  stress  what  organized 
society   can  force  an    individual   to  do  in   this  world 

116 


when  what  really  counts  is  the  victories  the  individ- 
ual himself  can  win  here  in  preparation  for  the  work 
he  must  take  up  Overthere  ? 

Why  be  so  absurd  as  to  maintain  that  one  can 
even  get  a  chance  to  fight  for  a  victory  if  the  adver- 
sary (temptation)  be  annihilated  in  advance? 

Why  become  unduly  alarmed  because  a  few 
stumble  and  fall  in  the  struggle,  causing  sorrow  and 
suffering  ?  Isn't  this  world  a  battle  ground  to  develop 
dependable  soldiers  for  the  next  and  isn't  a  degree  of 
sorrow  the  earthly  heritage  of  man? 

Why  try  to  reverse  the  Creator's  plan  by  legislat- 
ing Heaven  to  earth  before  we  know  who  have  earned 
and  are  entitled  to  the  glories  of  His  kingdom? 

Why  not  remember  that  it  were  better  to  endure 
such  measure  of  evil,  suffering  and  sorrow  as  cannot 
be  constructively  avoided,  than  to  condemn  a  whole 
nation  to  a  principle,  plan,  device,  philosophy,  religion 
or  law  which  leads  to  the  enforced  destruction  of  the 
human  soul  through  non-development  of  its  four  at- 
tributes of  conscience,  choice,  reason  and  will  power? 

Why  discredit  and  distrust  moral  accountability 
in  the  individual  himself  and  his  personal  responsi- 
bility when  these  are  the  very  things  which  he  must 
individually  assume  for  his  own  progress  and  the 
final  advancement  of  society? 

Why  disgrace  our  Constitution  by  placing  in  it 
such  provisions  that  one  may  keep  the  ten  command- 
ments sacred  and  still  be  disqualified  as  a  law-abiding 
American  citizen? 

Why  try  to  drive  intelligent  human  beings  into 
morality  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  dumb  ani- 
mals are  driven  into  a  stockade? 

Why  by  law  place  the  obligation  upon  an  individ- 
ual of  denying  himself  his  inalienable  rights,  privi- 
leges and  pursuit  of   happiness  before  he  has   inter- 

117 


fered  with  others  in  their  pursuit  of  the  same  in  their 
own  rights? 

Why  commit  ourselves  to  a  vicious  enforcement 
circle  where  more  and  more  restrictions  must  be  im- 
posed upon  the  individual  to  prevent  violations  and 
thereby  make  more  regulations  to  violate? 

Why  place  in  our  fundamental  law  an  untenable 
and  demoralizing  doctrine  which  many  of  our  most 
loyal  and  intelligent  citizens  fear  to  deny,  yet 
cannot  force  themselves  to  accept? 

Why  make  such  incongruous  and  destructive  laws 
and  then  grieve  about  lawlessness? 

Why  adopt  the  German  method  of  deceiving  and 
controlling  the  masses  in  the  name  of  what  they  are 
led  to  believe  is  worthy,  constructive  and  in  the  inter- 
ests of  civilization? 

Why  forget  the  history  of  ages  and  become  so  im- 
patient that  mankind  is  making  slow  progress?  Why 
attempt  through  legislative  force  to  disprove  human 
experience  of  all  ages  and  all  times  that  the  sowing  of 
extravagant  hopes  only  means  the  harvesting  of  bit- 
ter disappointment?  Humanity  does  not  reach  Utopia 
in  one  tremendous  bound,  as  evidenced  by  the  slow 
progress  of  the  sustaining  message  of  hope  and 
promise  brought  by  the  Nazarene  19  centuries  ago. 
Persecution,  revolution,  and  harsh  laws  have  failed 
these  19  centuries  to  force  morality  upon  mankind. 
Man  somehow  insists,  Topsy-like,  in  just  growing  up 
naturally.  He  loses  here  but  gains  there,  with  the 
sum  of  his  experiences  always  carrying  him  ahead 
slowly,  but  ahead.  Is  prohibition  and  temptation  re- 
moval to  disprove  all  these  experiences  by  showing 
that  man  can  be  quickly  legislated  other  than  what 
he  is? 

Why,  oh  why,  not  tolerate  the  truth? 

113 


There  are  plenty  of  other  whys  that  might  be 
propounded.  In  all  probability  enough  have  already 
been  given  to  busy  the  prohibitionist  for  a  time  in 
giving  logical  and  constructive  answers. 

This  volume  has  exceeded  the  pages  originally 
planned  and  only  implied  reference  has  been  made  to 
the  solution  of  the  liquor  problem.  Yet  the  sole  aim 
of  this  work  has  been  to  arouse  the  American  people 
to  a  realization  of  the  great  crime  of  humanity  that 
the  18th  amendment  and  Volstead  Act  have  legalized. 
Once  they  see  the  destructive  road  which  they  have 
entered  upon,  there  will  be  no  doubt  about  their  find- 
ing a  way  to  leave  it  and  get  back  onto  the  highway 
of  constructive  logic  and  Divine  provision.  America 
can  be  trusted  to  do  the  right  thing,  provided  the  agi- 
tators and  intolerant  souls,  who  perhaps  mean  well, 
do  not  prevent  the  citizenry  from  knowing  the  facts 
and,  if  knowing,  the  unrestrained  and  untarnished 
liberty  of  acting  thereon. 

To  aid  in  the  consummation  of  that  worthy  goal 
is  this  volume  given  the  public.  Temperate  language 
has  been  used  throughout.  The  good  aimed  at  in 
prohibition  and  the  things  apparently  achieved  are 
gladly  admitted.  The  majesty  of  the  law  is  particu- 
larly pointed  out.  The  reader  will  note  it  is  not  even 
argued  that  prohibition  is  impossible,  although  the 
fundamental  facts  point  most  decisively  in  that 
direction. 

However,  an  unprejudiced  reading  of  the  volume 
may  lead  the  careful  thinker  to  see  the  folly  and  mis- 
fortune in  following  the  principles  of  prohibition,  even 
if  it  can  be  done.  All  of  the  possible  good  resulting 
therefrom  would  be  far  outweighed  by  the  losses  to 
humanity  through  the  destructive  method  used  of 
forcing  morality  upon    the  individual    from  without 

119 


instead  of  co-operating  in  a  constructive  way  for  its 
unfoldment  from  within. 

America's  opportunity  and  mission  instead  of  be- 
ing to  follow  the  footsteps  of  other  nations  to  destruc- 
tion by  the  suppression  and  domination  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  to  follow  the  spiritual  ideals  of  those  noble 
pioneers  as  expressed  in  the  Constitution  which  we 
reverence. 

Our  trust,  contrary  to  the  18th  amendment,  is  to 
invoke  those  natural  and  constructive  forces  and 
agencies  which  will  aid  each  human  soul  to  aid  itself 
in  development  and  unfoldment.  Our  goal  should  be 
greater  souls  and  more  of  them.  That  goal  can  never 
be  reached  through  ever-increasing  suppression  by 
law  or  force,  substituting  material  standards  for 
spiritual. 

There  are  various  palliatives  for  abuse  of  liquor, 
as  well  as  for  other  bad  habits.  There  is  but  one  cure. 
It  is  the  development  within  the  individual  of  responsi- 
bility and  self-control  sufficient  to  withstand  by  his 
own  efforts  the  allurements,  enticements  and  tempta- 
tions of  the  world.  That  is  the  plan  of  Nature  and 
Nature's  God.  In  prohibition  America  is  deluding  her- 
self that  she  can  improve  upon  the  Creator's  plans  and 
is  attempting  to  outlaw  the  Almighty.  Shakespeare 
said :    "What  fools  these  mortals  be !" 


FINIS 


120 


